Judiciary will see through this political vendetta: Congress on fresh FIR in National Herald case

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday attacked the Modi government over the filing of a fresh FIR in the National Herald case and said it is confident that the judiciary will see through this "political vendetta and mindless attempts to hound".

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said 12 years on, and suddenly, there is a new FIR in the old case on the Gandhi family targeting the Congress party.

"Simply because the Modi government and the ED have exhausted their supply of fresh smears. When facts ran thin, theatrics stepped in: selective prosecutions, recycled allegations, and a thinly veiled attempt to keep opponents in the dock," Kharge said on X.

"We are confident that the Judiciary will see through this political vendetta and mindless attempts to hound!" he said.

The Congress had on Monday also slammed the Centre over the FIR, describing the move as "harassment" by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and a tactic by the Modi government to divert public attention from real issues.

Speaking to reporters, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi had said that the ED and the BJP government deserve a "Nobel Prize for fabricating a crime where none has been committed".

He described the action as a tactic to divert public attention from the country's major problems like "deteriorating" economy, unemployment and a "failed" foreign policy.

The opposition party's attack comes after the Delhi Police filed an FIR against former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and other accused in the National Herald case on a complaint by the ED as part of the agency's money laundering probe into the high-profile case that alleges that the first family of the party "abused" their position for personal gains.

Official sources and documents said the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police filed a complaint against the Gandhis and seven others on October 3.

The police has pressed charges under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code in the FIR that names the Gandhis, Congress leaders Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda, entities like the Young Indian (YI) and Dotex Merchandise Ltd, Dotex promoter Sunil Bhandari, Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL) and unknown others.

These entities are also named as an accused (except unknown others) in the ED chargesheet filed before a Delhi court in April. The court is yet to take its cognisance with the next date of hearing scheduled for December 16.

The ED, according to the sources, used powers available to it under section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to get the police FIR registered.

This section allows the federal agency to share evidence for registration of a criminal predicate offence by a law enforcement agency so that it can subsequently book a money laundering case to take forward the investigation. PTI ASK SKC RHL