National Herald Case: Delhi HC fixes July 30 for final hearing on Subramanian Swamy's plea
May 18, 2021
New Delhi [India], May 18 : A single judge bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait of Delhi High Court on Tuesday fixed July 30 as the date for the final hearing of the petition filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy challenging trial court order regarding summoning of various witnesses and documents in the National Herald case.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court had issued notice to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on Swamy's plea challenging trial court order regarding summoning of various documents, witnesses and stayed his further cross-examination.
The trial court had said that Swamy's application filed under section 244 of Cr. P.C (Code of Criminal Procedure) shall be considered after the evidence of the complainant is over. Swamy, in his application, had said that the case is a quintessential case of documentary evidence and therefore these documents need to be proved through witnesses.
"Due to the fact that there are many documents that have been annexed to the chief examination of the complainant, which have been marked; these are certified copies of these public documents. Due to the fact that these are marked documents, these documents need to be proved through the testimony of the appropriate witnesses," the application said.
Through the application, Swamy sought summoning of Secretary-General Sanjeev S Kalgaonar (Registry officer) Supreme Court of India, Rajnish Kumar Jha (Dy Land and Development officer), Saket Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax Circle-1, Congress official who issued a press statement on November 2, 2012, and Journalist J Gopi Krishnan.
Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi's lawyer RS Cheema had earlier partly cross-examined Subramanian Swamy in the matter. The National Herald case, which was filed by Swamy, is being heard by a special court in Delhi's Rouse Avenue.
According to Swamy's complaint, Associated Journals Limited (AJL) had taken an interest-free loan of Rs 90.25 crores from the Indian National Congress. It is alleged that the loan was not repaid. Swamy had filed the case in 2012 accusing Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds. He had stated that the Congress party granted an interest-free loan of Rs 90.25 crores to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), owner of the National Herald newspaper.
