The troubles for Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have deepened in the National Herald case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), represented by Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, told the court that the acquisition of Associated Journals Limited (AJL) involved fraudulent transactions. According to ED, the Young Indian Private Limited—a company allegedly formed solely for the purpose—took over AJL, which owns assets worth over ₹2,000 crore.
ASG S.V. Raju told the court that AJL’s director had written to the All India Congress Committee (AICC), stating they were unable to repay debts as the newspaper’s publication had ceased and they had no steady source of income. He further said that Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Suman Dubey, and Sam Pitroda held managerial roles in Young Indian, and that the company acquired AJL’s assets—worth ₹2,000 crore—for a debt of just ₹90 crore.
Raju described this as a “scam,” asserting that no real financial transaction took place and that it was a “conspiracy” to transfer the property without proper payment. He emphasized that it was not the Congress party but Young Indian that acquired AJL. He also pointed out that the ₹90 crore loan provided by the Congress was later written off and effectively sold for only ₹50 lakh, without any interest or collateral.
ED’s arguments suggest that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, who together hold 76% of Young Indian’s shares, orchestrated the takeover to seize AJL’s valuable assets under the guise of clearing a loan. The case traces back to a complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in 2012, alleging that Congress leaders used Young Indian to fraudulently acquire AJL’s property. ED began investigating soon after.
The National Herald newspaper, published by AJL, was originally established by India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1938 and was long regarded as the Congress party’s mouthpiece. The publication shut down in 2008 due to financial distress.
The ED has now argued in court that the formation of Young Indian was a planned strategy to capture assets worth ₹2,000 crore using a nominal loan, and that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi were the beneficial owners. Raju reiterated that all the key managerial persons of Young Indian—Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Suman Dubey, and Sam Pitroda—were central to this scheme.
