Know about National Herald case in which Sonia, Rahul have been summoned

New Delhi: Delhi based Patiala House Court has issued summons to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi who also happens to be the Congress vice-president.Both Sonia and Rahul have been summoned in the court on August 7 in National Herald case.The court issued the summons on a petition filed by the BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.Those accused in the case include Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Oscar Fernandes, Motilal Vora, Sam Pitroda and former journalist Suman Dubey. Metropolitian magistrate Gomati Manocha, while issuing the summons, said: "I have found prima facie evidence against all the accused. The court has directed them to appear before it August 7."So what is this National Herald case all about? According to Swamy, the case involves Rs 2000 crore worth of property belonging to the National Herald, which was grabbed by Congress leaders using fraudulent papers.The National Herald newspaper was established in 1938 by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It was shut down in 2008.National Herald newspaper publishing company The Associated Journal Ltd was taken over by a newly-floated company Young Indian in 2010.Subramanian Swamy has accused both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi of owning 38 percent share each in ‘Young Indian'.Swamy has accused Rahul of not disclosing his ownership in the affidavit that he filed in 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Amethi parliamentary constituency. According to Swamy, Young Indian acquired National Herald using Rs 90 Crore of interest-free money that the newly-floated company received from the Congress party.Swamy claims that it was illegal on part of Congress, which is a political party, to have given an interest-free Rs 90 Crore loan to Young Indian. According to Swamy, under Income Tax act, no political party can indulge in such financial transaction and can't sign any business contract with any third party. Swamy further alleges that the meetings of Young Indian used to be held at the official residence of 10, Janpath. Now the Young Indian has rented Delhi based National Herald House to the Passport Office on a monthly rent of Rs 30 Lakh.. 76 percent of this amount goes to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, according to Swamy. Reacting to the Court order, Subramanian Swamy said, "This is a fraud, criminal breach of trust as they have managed to misappropriate the fund of Rs 2,000 crore rupees.""The entire deal was to "grab the Rs 1,600 crore worth Herald House and other properties of National Herald/Quami Awaz in Delhi and in different parts of UP", Swamy said."It is important for the court to take the passports of Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi so that they do not run away from the country before the hearing in the court," added Swamy.“Complainant has established a prima facie case against the accused under section 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property, 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) read with section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.“Hence, let the accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Moti Lal Vohra, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda be summoned for August 7, 2014. Let the Young Indian be summoned through it's authorised representative for the same date,” said Manocha.Reacting to the development, Congress spokesman and a senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the party will respond “vigorously” to the allegations made by Swamy. “Dr Swamy is known for his personal, motivated campaign against the Congress and you can take it that as and when we receive the papers and take the full legal advice a very vigorous response will be filed in respect of this completely false and motivated complaint.“Issuance of process over a stale complaint made a year ago is not something to be excited about. Let's seek comprehensive legal advice and you will see how all allegations are legally demolished,” Singhvi said.