TNI Bureau: A Delhi court refused to take cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) prosecution complaint in the alleged ₹2,000-crore money laundering case against senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and five others.

Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Court held that the ED’s complaint was not legally maintainable as it was based on a private complaint filed by Dr Subramanian Swamy and not on a registered FIR. The judge said that an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) requires an FIR as a “jurisdictional trigger,” which was absent in this case.

The court noted that while the CBI had received Swamy’s complaint, it did not register an FIR. Despite this, the ED proceeded to file an ECIR and later a chargesheet on April 9 this year, which the court said was impermissible under law.

The case dates back to 2012, when Swamy, then a BJP Rajya Sabha MP, accused the Gandhis and other Congress leaders of fraud in the takeover of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), publisher of the National Herald. Apart from Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda are also named as accused, along with firms Young Indian and Dotex Merchandise Pvt Ltd.

The ED has alleged that AJL properties worth over ₹2,000 crore were acquired by Young Indian for just ₹50 lakh, and that senior Congress leaders had provided an interest-free loan of ₹90 crore to AJL. The agency has claimed the arrangement was meant to launder money.

In May 2019, the ED had also attached a plot in Panchkula, re-allotted to AJL during the previous Congress government in Haryana.