New Delhi, 16 December (H.S.): Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday rebuffed the Enforcement Directorate's bid to prosecute Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and five others under money-laundering laws in the long-festering National Herald case, deeming the chargesheet legally untenable.

Special Judge Vishal Gogne ruled that cognisance remains impermissible, as the ED's probe stems from BJP MP Subramanian Swamy's private complaint rather than a predicate FIR, rendering the prosecution complaint premature amid an ongoing Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing investigation.

The agency signalled immediate plans to challenge the verdict in a higher forum, preserving its allegations of a ₹2,000-crore asset grab via Young Indian Pvt Ltd's acquisition of Associated Journals Limited.

Accused alongside the Gandhis are Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey, the late Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes (via legal heirs), Young Indian, and Dotex Merchandise, with ED claiming the 2010 transaction masked criminal breach of trust to funnel party assets.

Reserved since November, today's order underscores procedural rigour over substantive merits for now. This reprieve reignites the decade-old controversy, born from Swamy's 2012 plaint alleging misuse of ₹90 crore in interest-free loans from AICC to revive the Herald group, testing PMLA thresholds anew.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar