Step-by-step, drip-by-drip, the long arm of the law has started catching up with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald fraud. The Urban Development Ministry issued notice to the defunct National Herald newspaper publishing company Associated Journals Limited (AJL) to vacate Herald House in Delhi by November 15, citing violations in the allotment and illegal usage of the building. In the evening Congress leadership rushed to Delhi High Court and the case is posted for tomorrow (November 13).

Covert acquisition by Shell companies

AJL had stopped publishing the newspaper National Herald and other two papers in Hindi and Urdu in 2008 and the public limited company is now covertly acquired in 2010 by a shell firm called Young Indian, floated by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi with 76 percent share ownership. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in 2016, filed a complaint to Urban Development Ministry to take over the Herald House, citing the blatant violations and illegalities in the garb of journalism[1].

From 2011, after the takeover of AJL by the shell firm floated by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the Herald House was rented out to Passport Seva Kendra and the controllers of this prime property were getting Rs.80 lakhs per month.

The plea of AJL, challenging the Urban Development Ministry ending the lease and asking it to vacate the premises by November 15, is scheduled to come up for a hearing Tuesday before Justice Sunil Gaur.

The plea alleged that the Land and Development Office’s order was “illegal, unconstitutional, arbitrary, tainted with malafide and without authority and jurisdiction”.

The petition, filed through advocates Sunil Fernandes and Priyansha Indra Sharma, said that the Centre has warned them of action under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 if they failed to vacate the premises. One of the grounds mentioned in the L&DO order is that no press has been functioning in the premises for last at least 10 years and that it is being used only for commercial purposes in violation of the lease deed.

After Subramanian Swamy’s case and after the bail of Sonia and Rahul in December 2015, the Congress leadership started a website of National Herald to fool the law. The Congress leadership also published once in a while some supplements of National Herald to maintain the Herald House, which is expected to be worth more than Rs.1000 crores. Some pliable journalists were also appointed to pretend as if there was newspaper activity.

References:

[1] National Herald scam gets murkier. Urban Development Ministry’s Show Cause Notice exposes more frauds – Aug 24, 2018, PGurus.com