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The 12-day long hullabaloo, following a judgement by the Delhi High Court that dismissed Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s criminal appeal against a trial court’s order summoning him, Sonia Gandhi and four other Congress leaders in the National Herald scandal, has ended for the time being, leaving the majesty of court intact.
Being accused of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and dishonest misappropriation of property under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Gandhis stood in court during the five-minute long proceeding conducted by Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen Singh.
He didn’t take any time in granting bail to the accused, taking note of the fact that the summons issued by Metropolitan Magistrate Ms Gomati Manocha in June last year asking them to appear before the court to respond to the allegations made in a private complaint by Dr Subramanian Swamy, were honoured by them.
Legal Marathon Awaits the Gandhis
- Metropolitan Magistrate Loveleen Singh granted bail to the Gandhis, considering that the summons issued in June last year were honoured by them.
- Congress may be relieved for now, but a long, circuitous legal route awaits the Gandhis.
- This is not the stage that justifies putting Gandhis & Co on trial for alleged offences till cross examination of the accused happens.
- A sustained legal battle awaits the Gandhis, as the allegations levelled by Swamy are unprecedented.
Long Legal Battle Ahead
It’s unprecedented that a former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh stood surety for Sonia Gandhi, who along with the other accused would face marathon proceedings from 20 February 2016.
Congress and its leaders may be flashing the victory sign for now, but a long, circuitous route to dispensation awaits the Gandhis. They might have worked hard for persuading the trial court that the complaint filed by Dr Swamy lacked merit.
This job becomes more difficult in view of the caustic observations made by a Delhi High Court judge, Sunil Gaur, which gave more credence to the allegations made by Swamy against them.
At present, the facts are half-baked in the sense that one side of the picture is emerging, but upon taking the case of Dr Swamy on its face value, it cannot be prima facie said that the ingredients of the offences alleged are lacking.Justice Sunil Gaur, December 7, 2015
To say that the high court had prima facie examined the evidence while taking a call whether or not to summon the Gandhis and other Congress leaders wouldn’t be incorrect. Nevertheless, Justice Gaur took caution and said the views expressed by him in a 27-page order shouldn’t prejudice the trial court, or act as a vindication of the stand taken by either of warring parties – Gandhis & Co, and Dr Swamy.
Dr Swamy feels he has achieved substantially as of now. “They had been shouting that they would go to jail and won’t plead for bail. But they sought bail and meekly signed the personal bonds…Their plea for exemption from appearance has been rejected by the Honourable Court”, he said in a TV interview.
Show of Strength By the Congress
At present, facts are half-baked in the sense that only one side of the picture is emerging. It needs no reiteration that this is not the stage to even prima facie opine that ingredients of any of the alleged offences exist, which justifies putting Gandhis & Co on trial. This would be decided by the trial court after recording the arguments by the complainant and cross examination of Gandhis & Co.
In the forthcoming months, one is likely to witness a sustained legal battle as the allegations levelled by Dr Swamy, a member of BJP’s national executive are unprecedented. For the first time, a political party that ruled the country for many decades has been put in the dock.
Allegations offered an opportunity to the Congress to judge the strength of its cadre by putting forth a solidarity march. At the heart of the controversy is the Associated Journal Limited (AJL), which had closed the printing and publication of newspapers, like National Herald, in 2008.
It owed a huge debt of Rs 90 crore to the Congress Party. Although this debt had accumulated over a period of time, but the huge unpaid debt was an outcome of interest free loans extended by the Congress Party to AJL from time to time.
A Merger and Acquisition Gone Horribly Wrong
AJL was a Public Limited Company, which had immovable assets worth crores of rupees. The Congress Party had assigned the huge debt of Rs 90 crore to Young Indian (YI) on receiving a paltry amount of Rs 50 lakh only.
The Gandhis owned 38% each of the shares, or 76% of the Young Indian Company. The debt which AJL owed to Congress Party now stood transferred to Young Indian which was formed in November, 2010.
In December, 2010, AJL increased its share equity by allotting large chunk of its shares to Young Indian, in lieu of the debt owed to Congress Party which now stood assigned to YI.
Thus, AJL became a wholly owned company of YI by merely paying Rs 50 lakh and in this manner. It acquired complete control of AJL which had real estate assets of at least Rs 2,000 crore in prime areas of New Delhi, Lucknow, Bhopal, Mumbai, Indore, Patna, Panchkula and some other cities.
Dr Swamy alleges the conservative real estate worth of AJL is Rs 5,000 crore.
In the meanwhile, various investigating agencies under the Centre and the state governments of BJP have initiated action against these properties as some of them are shopping malls or commercial complexes which are not even distantly concerned with the media industry.
(The writer is a Delhi-based senior journalist)
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