National Herald case: Setback for Gandhis as Delhi HC orders income tax probe

New Delhi: In a setback for the Gandhis in the National Herald case, the Delhi High Court on Friday cleared the way for an Income Tax investigation into Young Indian Private Limited in which Rahul and Sonia Gandhi are directors. Earlier, the Patiala House Court had allowed to investigate income tax of Gandhis, which was then challenged at the Delhi High Court. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy had filed an application in 2012, accusing Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul and others associated with the Congress of conspiring to cheat in the land deal. In his complaint, Swamy had alleged that the Congress granted an interest-free loan of Rs. 90.25 crore to the AJL, owner of the National Herald newspaper, established by Jawaharlal Nehru, which was either not repaid or repaid in case, which was in violation of Section 269T of the Income Tax Act, 1961. In August, the court issued notices to Sonia, Rahul and five others on Swamy's application seeking presentation of certain documents from Associated Journals Pvt. Ltd (AJL) and Indian National Congress (INC) in connection with the National Herald case.