Delhi court throws out ED case against National Herald

Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Courts on Tuesday refused to take cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) complaint in the ‘National Herald case’, filed under sections 44 and 45 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The judge reasoned that since the case is based on a private complaint (filed by Subramanian Swamy in 2013) and not an official first information report (FIR) filed with the police, the ED didn’t have the legal basis to initiate the money laundering case.

While the Modi government did later amend the PMLA Act (in 2019) to allow ED investigations based on private complaints, the court pointed out that the case was filed earlier; that no FIR was lodged then nor complaints filed by any authority.

In order to plug this loophole, the ED registered a fresh FIR earlier in 2025 for alleged fraud and cheating to strengthen the earlier case, which was deemed to be weak after the defence had made its arguments in the trial court.

The National Herald case is possibly the first in the history of the Enforcement Directorate where the agency initiated a money laundering investigation without any FIR.

The ED, in fact, overruled its own ‘Technical Circular No. 01/2015’ dated 14.1.2015 that clearly stated “for registering an ECIR, the requirement of FIR under Sec 154 of CrPC and its forwarding to a Magistrate under Sec 157 of CrPC is essential”.

The then director of ED had reportedly refused to sanction the prosecution for lack of any evidence of wrongdoing, but the government transferred him and the next director obliged by sanctioning the prosecution.

The controversy dates back to 2010 and the acquisition of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of the now-defunct National Herald newspaper, by a new not-for-profit holding company, Young Indian Pvt Ltd (YIL). The ED's decade-long investigation, initiated in 2014, alleged a scheme to misappropriate AJL's assets for personal gain.

It was, however, argued in court on behalf of AJL that the publishing company was still in possession of all its property and no money had been paid to the YIL, which in any case is not eligible for receiving any dividend, being a not-for-profit company.

According to media reports, the ED plans to move an appeal against the order.

The detailed copy of the court’s order is awaited and this copy will be updated when it becomes available.