FIR filed against Sonia, Rahul Gandhi in National Herald Case on ED Complaint

The Delhi Police has registered an FIR against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, along with seven others, in connection with the National Herald case, following a complaint from the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The move comes amid an ongoing money laundering investigation that alleges misuse of political influence, misappropriation of assets and criminal conspiracy for personal gain.

The FIR, filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on October 3, names senior Congress leaders Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey, Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), Young Indian (YI), Dotex Merchandise Ltd, its promoter Sunil Bhandari, and unknown others. Charges under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) have been invoked.

According to the ED, AJL publisher of the National Herald newspaper founded in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru as a voice of the freedom movement and later closely associated with the Congress party owned valuable properties in major cities which were allegedly taken over by Young Indian, a private company “beneficially owned” by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, for just ₹50 lakh despite being valued at over ₹2,000 crore. The agency claims the assets meant for journalistic and public purposes were fraudulently converted into private property through a complex financial arrangement.

The FIR is expected to strengthen the ED’s chargesheet filed in April, now pending in a Delhi court with the next hearing scheduled for December 16. The ED used Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to share evidence with the police to facilitate the registration of the predicate offenses.

Congress has dismissed the allegations, calling the investigation “petty vendetta tactics” and accusing the ED of acting as a “coalition partner” of the ruling BJP. The case originally arose from a 2014 private complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy regarding alleged irregularities in the handling of National Herald’s financial and property affairs.