National Herald case: Swamy granted permission to access financial details of INC, AJL

A Delhi court on Friday gave its nod to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy's plea, seeking the balance sheets of Indian National Congress (INC) and Associated Journals Pvt. Ltd (AJL) for the purpose of investigation in the National Herald case.

Swamy had last week approached the Patiala House Court seeking summoning of certain documents related to the financial details of Congress, AJL and Young Indian Pvt. Ltd.

In his application filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen, Swamy had sought to summon the balance sheet, receipts, income and expenditure statements for assessment years 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 of INC, AJL and YI.

The court had on February 20 ordered all documents sought by Swamy related to the National Herald case to be sealed till the matter is pending.

The court had on January 11 allowed Swamy's plea, seeking summoning of documents from the Ministries of Finance, Urban Development and Corporate Affairs, Income Tax Department and other agencies in the case.

Meanwhile, the court last month granted exemption to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and three others, including Sam Pitroda, from personal appearance in the National Herald case. Pitroda was also granted bail by the court in this matter.

The court, had in December last year, granted bail to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes and Suman Dubey, who had appeared after summons were issued.

On June 26, last year, the trial court issued summons to them on Swamy's allegations of 'cheating' in the acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) by Young India Ltd (YIL) -- a firm in which Sonia and Rahul own 38 percent stakes each.

The Delhi High Court had in December 2015 rejected their plea and directed them to appear before the trial court.

The case relates to the Indian National Congress granting an interest-free loan of Rs. 90.25 crore (USD 13 million) to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), owner of the National Herald newspaper which was established by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1938.