National Herald Case: ED Appeals Delhi High Court Following Trial Court Rejection of Chargesheet Against Gandhis; Examine Probe Agency’s Position

National Herald Case: Following a ruling by the Rouse Avenue Court on the National Herald case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed an appeal to the Delhi High Court on Friday. The high-profile case’s money laundering chargesheet against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi was denied by the court on Tuesday.

In the lack of a formal complaint, Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts refused to consider the ED’s prosecution case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court said that the ED charge was not founded on a FIR of a predicate offense but rather on a probe into a complaint made by a private individual, Subramanian Swamy.

The court made it clear that it was not considering the merits of the accusations even as it declined cognisance.

What Is the Argument Made by the ED?

The investigating agency said that the decision to not go further had seriously hampered the investigation and prosecution in its appeal to the High Court, where it questioned the trial court’s conclusions and requested appellate review. The ED has challenged these findings in the Delhi High Court, requesting that the trial court’s ruling be overturned and that the prosecution’s suit under the PMLA be allowed to continue.

Senior counsel and Congress politician Abhishek Manu Singhvi responded to the Rouse Avenue Court’s decision by calling it a “deserved victory” and calling the case the “strangest ever.”

Vendetta Politics Revealed: Congress Earlier on Wednesday, after a Delhi court’s refusal to consider the ED’s money laundering complaint against the Gandhis, the Congress sought the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The Congress cadres are angry and would demonstrate their power against this “misuse of agencies” by the government to target opposition leaders, the opposition party said, vowing to expose the “vendetta politics” against its leadership.