National Herald case: Court grants relief to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi

On Monday, Delhi's Patiala House Court dismissed BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's plea seeking documents related to the National Herald Case, bringing about major relief for Congress President Sonia Gandhi, and vice president Rahul Gandhi.

In his petition, Swamy had accused the Gandhis of illegally acquiring Associated Journals Limited, and had sought documents and ledger books maintained by the Congress.

The court has now set 10 February as the next date of hearing.

On the basis of Swamy's application, in August, the court had issued notices to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and five others, seeking presentation of certain documents from Associated Journals Pvt. Ltd (AJL) and Indian National Congress (INC) in connection with the National Herald case.

The main point of contention was an interest-free loan of Rs 90.25 crore that the Congress had granted to the AJL, which was not repaid, and was in contravention of Section 269T of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Subramanian Swamy has however declared that he will appeal to the Supreme Court on Patiala House Court's order, saying that the National Herald had taken a lot of benefits from the government.