Congress hails court verdict, calls National Herald case hollow, baseless

The Congress on Tuesday struck a defiant note after a Delhi court refused to take cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate’s chargesheet in the National Herald–Young Indian case, with senior party leaders saying the ruling had stripped the proceedings of their political drama and exposed what they called a case built on exaggeration rather than evidence.

Leading the party’s legal defence, senior Congress leader and AICC chairman of the Law, RTI and Human Rights department Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the court’s order underscored the hollowness at the heart of the case. Addressing reporters, Singhvi described the proceedings as fundamentally flawed, telling the court that the matter was “weird” from its very inception.

“There is not a millimetre of movement of money or immovable property,” Singhvi said, stressing that all assets continue to remain with Associated Journals Limited (AJL). “Yet allegations of money laundering are being made,” he added, dismissing the charges as unsustainable.

Singhvi explained that AJL is now 90 per cent owned by Young Indian, a corporate restructuring exercise he said was commonplace and legally sound. Not-for-profit entities, he argued, are routinely used to make companies debt-free across India’s corporate landscape. “Every corporate does this,” he said. “A transfer of shares to clean up debt is entirely lawful.”

He went on to underline the unique nature of Young Indian, describing it as a not-for-profit company where directors are legally barred from deriving any personal benefit. “Mallikarjun Kharge ji, Sonia Gandhi ji, the late Motilal Vora ji and others cannot receive even one paisa as dividend,” Singhvi said. “There is no profit, no dispersal, no car, no building, no staff — nothing.”

Calling the court’s refusal to take cognisance a moment of legal clarity, Singhvi said cognisance represents the lowest and easiest threshold in criminal law. “When even that is denied, it means the case is not worth proceeding with,” he said, accusing the BJP of erecting a “superstructure of exaggeration” through relentless political noise.

Singhvi also alleged that a Delhi Police FIR was filed belatedly in an attempt to paper over foundational defects in the case. “There was no FIR when the matter was argued. The FIR came later, supposedly to cure that defect,” he said.

The Congress maintained that the ruling validated its long-held contention that the case was politically motivated and devoid of legal or factual substance.

Echoing that sentiment, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said the judgment had exposed what he described as illegal and mala fide targeting by the Modi government. “From day one, the Opposition — especially Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi — has been singled out without any legal basis or wrongdoing,” Venugopal said.

He described the ruling as a clear vindication of the party’s stand and a reaffirmation of faith in the rule of law and democratic institutions. The Congress said the decision marked a significant setback to what it called the misuse of investigative agencies for political ends, asserting that the court’s order had brought those actions into sharp public and judicial focus.

Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot also welcomed the court's ruling, hailing it as a decisive triumph of truth over what he described as the misuse of state power.

Gehlot said the court’s refusal to entertain the Enforcement Directorate’s complaint against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had left no room for doubt that no offence of money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was made out.

Reiterating the party’s long-standing position, Gehlot said the Congress had maintained from the outset that the case was “false and fabricated”, alleging it was deliberately engineered by the Modi government with the sole aim of maligning the Gandhi family.

He further claimed that the weakness of the case had been evident to the ED itself, prompting what he described as a hurried move to secure an FIR from the Delhi Police only days earlier. “Since the chargesheet was filed, the ED knew there was no substance in the allegations. Acting under pressure from the Modi government, the agency has now been exposed and embarrassed in court,” Gehlot said.

Calling the verdict unambiguous, Gehlot said the judiciary had brought clarity to the issue and reaffirmed faith in the rule of law. “Today, everything stands crystal clear,” he said. “In the end, truth has prevailed.”