Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Khadge and Rahul Gandhi at an AICC session in Ahmedabad, recently.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a chargesheet on 15 April 2025 against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sam Pitroda, and Suman Dubey in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper, advancing a high-profile investigation.
The ED’s prosecution complaint, submitted under sections 44 and 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court, alleged that Young Indian Pvt Ltd, with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi each holding a 38% stake, acquired Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) properties worth over ₹2,000 crore for ₹50 lakh against a ₹90.25 crore debt owed to the Congress. Special Judge Vishal Gogne accepted the chargesheet, filed on April 9, 2025, scheduling a hearing for April 25, 2025, to consider cognisance, with the ED directed to present case diaries. The ED in its chargesheet claimed the acquisition involved proceeds of crime through donations, rent, and advertisements tied to AJL’s properties.
On April 12, 2025, the ED issued notices under section 8 of the PMLA to seize AJL properties valued at ₹661 crore, including Herald House in Delhi and buildings in Lucknow and Mumbai. The agency demanded vacation of the premises and ordered Jindal South West Projects Limited, a private company renting three floors of Herald House in Bandra, Mumbai, to transfer rent payments to the ED. The probe, initiated after a 2014 complaint by the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy, included raids on August 2, 2022, at Herald House and 11 other locations, with the Young Indian office sealed on August 3, 2022, due to absent representatives. In November 2023, the ED attached AJL assets worth ₹751.9 crore.
The National Herald, founded in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru and published by AJL, supported India’s freedom struggle. Post-independence, AJL faced financial difficulties, impacting its operations. From 2002 to 2011, the Congress party provided loans to AJL to support activities, including staff salaries. The 2010 transfer of AJL’s debt recovery rights to Young Indian prompted legal scrutiny, with courts upholding proceedings since 2014 on charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Indian Penal Code.
The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), in a separate statement, sounded a clarion call against what it terms a calculated assault on media freedom in India. The DUJ highlighted concerns about the National Herald’s asset seizure, noting the ED’s demand to vacate Herald House and AJL buildings, with rent from the Bandra property redirected to the agency. It further condemned the Union Government’s seizure of National Herald’s assets and the sudden shutdown of the popular YouTube channel ‘Knocking News’, warning that these actions threaten both free expression and the livelihoods of journalists.
“These measures affect a newspaper’s operations and its employees’ jobs,” the DUJ stated. The union claimed that the closure of the newspaper could lead to job losses for journalists, amid existing unemployment challenges.
The DUJ also reported the closure of ‘Knocking News’, a YouTube channel run by journalist Girijesh Vashistha, on April 11, 2025. The five-year-old channel, with 17 lakh viewers, was hacked, displaying cryptocurrency content. Vashistha filed a complaint with YouTube, which blocked the channel instead of removing the reported material. The DUJ questioned YouTube’s refusal to discuss the issue with Vashistha or investigate the hacking’s source, asking whether the platform’s firewall could protect other channels. The union demanded the unconditional restoration of the channel.
The DUJ noted similarities with the Income Tax department’s demands on Newsclick, which have restricted its ability to pay employees, stating that such financial measures contribute to unemployment among journalists. The union called for measures to protect journalists’ rights to expression and employment across print and digital platforms.
– global bihari bureau
