NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court sought response from Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on Monday in the National Herald case. The order came on a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which challenged a lower court order refusing to take cognisance of the agency charge sheet filed against the Gandhis and others.
A bench of Justice Ravinder Dudeja issued notice to the Gandhis and other respondents, directing them to file their response by March 12, when the court will next hear the matter.
During a brief hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the trial court erred in choosing to not take cognisance in the matter. “The trial court had already taken cognisance of [Subramanian] Swamy’s complaint, based on which the ED lodged its case. This matter needs to be heard… The entire PMLA is turned on its head,” Mehta argued.
A city court on December 16 had refused to take cognisance of the chargesheet, saying the prosecution complaint (the ED’s equivalent to a chargesheet) filed under the PMLA was not maintainable since the case was not lodged on the basis of an FIR filed by any investigative agency.
The court had ruled that the ED could initiate a money-laundering case only based on an FIR lodged by an investigating agency, also noting that the Delhi Police had registered an FIR in relation to the matter and the ED was free to pursue the matter in that case.