New Delhi, April 15 – India’s financial crime agency on Tuesday named senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in a charge sheet filed in connection with an alleged money laundering case involving the now-defunct newspaper National Herald, deepening a long-running legal battle that the opposition party has called politically motivated.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted the charge sheet to a Delhi court, which scheduled the matter for consideration on April 25, court documents showed. The court directed the ED’s special counsel and the investigating officer to produce case diaries during the next hearing.
The case is linked to the alleged fraudulent acquisition of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published National Herald, by Young Indian Pvt Ltd — a company in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are majority stakeholders. According to the ED, the charge sheet was filed under sections 44 and 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. It also names Sam Pitroda, the Congress party’s overseas chief, and Suman Dubey, a former AJL director, as accused.
The agency claims its investigation uncovered the generation, possession, and use of criminal proceeds worth approximately ₹988 crore ($118 million), tied to properties allegedly acquired at undervalued rates.
“To secure the proceeds of crime and prevent their dissipation, immovable properties of AJL in Delhi, Mumbai, and Lucknow — valued at ₹661 crore — and AJL shares worth ₹90.2 crore were provisionally attached in November 2023,” the ED said in a statement, adding the attachments were confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority in April 2024.
As part of the recovery process, the ED recently issued notices to registrars of property in three cities to take possession of AJL’s real estate. It also served a notice to Jindal South West Projects Ltd, which currently occupies three floors of the Mumbai property, to transfer monthly rent directly to the agency.
The probe stems from a 2014 complaint by Subramanian Swamy, a senior leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging that the Congress leadership conspired to take over assets worth over ₹2,000 crore belonging to AJL for just ₹50 lakh. Congress has consistently denied wrongdoing, describing the investigation as a “political vendetta” aimed at discrediting its leadership ahead of key elections.
The ED also claims that the properties in question were used to generate further illicit funds through what it described as “bogus donations, advance rent, and advertisements,” collectively amounting to over ₹85 crore. In a related development, the ED has also recorded a statement from Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, in an unrelated 2008 land deal case in Haryana.
