In a major setback to Congress chief Sonia Gandhiand party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the Delhi High Court on Friday allowed the Income Tax (IT) department to continue its investigation in theNational Herald case.
The investigation is based on a criminal complaint made by BJP Member of Parliament Subramaniam Swamy in 2012, accusing the Gandhis of a conspiracy to cheat and criminally misappropriate funds through its dealings with the National Herald newspaper. Swamy has alleged that the Gandhis by paying a mere Rs 50 lakh, transferred to Young Indian Private Limited (YIPL) the rights to recover Rs 90.25 crore that the publishers of National Herald – Associate Journals Limited – owed to the Congress party. YIPL is a company where Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are directors and majority shareholders.
Defending their position, the Gandhis and other accused Congress leaders had said that Swamy’s plea was in the nature of a roving and fishing inquiry that was not permissible under law. They had approached the Delhi High Court seeking a direction staying the IT department investigation and quashing notices sent by the tax authorities for the assessment year 2011-12.
Rejecting the plea, the bench of Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Chander Shekhar, upheld the IT department’s right to investigate into the alleged activities. The bench said that YIPL could not be arrogant and refuse to submit the documents as required. The counsel for the Gandhis, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, then withdrew the petition.
“The Gandhis have the option of approaching the Supreme Court. The IT (probe) cannot open a one-sided investigation. Swamy is not in charge of IT,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala in a first official reaction by the party.
The Patiala House Court, which is hearing Swamy’s complaint, had previously allowed the criminal investigation into the Gandhis (and other accused) to continue, while granting them bail in December 2015
