Earlier, in the first hearing held on April 25, the court had mentioned the absence of some important documents of the charge sheet and refused to issue a notice. The court had directed that ED should file the missing documents from the charge sheet, so that the next step can be taken on the basis of complete details.
On April 9, the Enforcement Directorate filed the first charge sheet against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey, among others, on charges of money laundering. This case is related to the National Herald newspaper and its associated organization Associated Journals Limited (AJL).
ED says that it has not hidden anything in the charge sheet and all the evidence has been submitted to the court. The agency told the court that the accused are getting full opportunity to present their side and the court should issue notice so that there is no delay.
Confiscation of properties and Congress' opposition
Before the chargesheet was filed, on April 12, 2025, the ED started the process of confiscating AJL's properties located in various cities in this case. This includes Herald House in Delhi, Bandra East in Mumbai and buildings on Visheshwarnath Road in Lucknow. Along with this, shares worth Rs 90.2 crore of AJL were also confiscated in November 2023.
The Congress has described this action as "political vendetta". Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "This is a state-sponsored vendetta. Our leadership will not bow down, but will fight strongly."
BJP's counterattack
At the same time, the Bharatiya Janata Party strongly countered this. Party spokesperson Shahzad Poonawala said, "Those who were robbing public property for years will now have to face legal action. ED will no longer become a shield for robbery and dynasty."
.jpg)
.png)
