Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday reacted strongly to a local Delhi court's decision refusing to take cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) chargesheet in the National Herald money laundering case involving senior party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, terming it a foiling of the Modi government's "conspiracy hatched with malicious intent of political revenge".
In a post on X, Kharge said, "When false allegations were leveled to defame the National Herald, the Congress party, and our leaders, I had said the same thing then too--that if we didn't fear the British, what are these BJP-RSS or Modi-Shah worth? Today, the court too has declared the Modi government's actions illegal and foiled this conspiracy hatched with the malicious intent of political revenge."
He further asserted that no matter how much force the "vote-stealing government" employs to crush democracy, Congress will continue its fight.
"No matter how much force this 'vote-stealing government' employs to crush democracy, we will continue our fight for 1.4 billion Indians and to save this Constitution. The victory of truth is certain," Kharge added.
The Delhi court today refused to take cognisance of the ED's chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others in the case, noting that it was based on a probe into a private complaint and not on an FIR of a predicate offence.
The court held that the ED's case was founded on a private complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and the summoning orders passed on that complaint, rather than on any FIR.
It ruled that a money-laundering prosecution cannot be sustained based on a private complaint alone, noting that an FIR has greater investigative value and is a prerequisite for registering an ECIR under the PMLA framework.
While declining cognisance, the court clarified that the ED may continue with further investigation in accordance with the law. The detailed order is expected to be uploaded later in the day. The matter has been listed for January 16, 2026.
During earlier hearings, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Sonia Gandhi, while RS Cheema represented Rahul Gandhi. Advocate Sumit Kumar and Advocate Nikhil Bhalla were also present on behalf of the Gandhi family. Advocate Sushil Bajaj appeared for Suman Dubey, Senior Advocate Madhav Khurana represented Young Indian, and ASG SV Raju appeared for the Enforcement Directorate.
The court had earlier emphasised that the accused have a statutory right to be heard before cognisance under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
The National Herald case stems from a complaint filed by Subramanian Swamy, alleging financial irregularities involving AJL, the original publisher of the National Herald
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
