NEW DELHI, Dec 19: After a 10-minute hearing, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul were today granted unconditional bail in the high-voltage National Herald case by a local court which said that offences alleged against them were not of “serious magnitude” at this stage and there was no apprehension that they would flee.
Facing a private criminal complaint lodged by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in the transfer of shares of the defunct party newspaper Herald to a newly-created company, the two Gandhis, accompanied by a phalanx of leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Priyanka Gandhi, appeared before Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen at 2.50 PM.
The party’s legal eagles Kapil Sibal, Ashwini Kumar, both former Union Law Ministers, and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, as also top Congress leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, A K Antony, Shiela Dikshit, Ambika Soni, Ahmed Patel and Meira Kumar were at hand.
As soon as the hearing commenced, Swamy opposed the bail pleas moved by the Gandhis and other accused saying they are influential persons and might flee the country if enlarged.
However, the court said “The accused are reputed persons having deep political roots and there is no apprehension that they will flee.”
Swamy then said that a condition should be imposed that the accused should not be allowed to travel abroad without the permission of the court and they should submit their passports to the court.
“Congress is an old party,” the judge shot back and then dictated the order.
“At this stage, without evidence the charges cannot be said to be serious in magnitude. They also have deep roots in the society so bail can be granted to the accused,” the judge said.
Sonia, Rahul and three other accused — Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes and Suman Dubey–sought bail which was granted after they furnished a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and one surety each.
One of the accused Sam Pitroda was not present as he was stated to be unwell. His plea seeking exemption from personal appearance was allowed.
During the hearing, Sibal, Singhvi and other lawyers, who appeared for the accused, argued there was no apprehension that any of their clients would flee from the country as they have appeared before the court on the first date itself.
Swamy later claimed that he had not opposed the bail but had told the court that conditions should be imposed on the Gandhis’ travel abroad since they “were in the habit of running away from the country”.
The magistrate fixed February 20 as the next date of hearing during which they were asked to appear in person.
The proceedings were over within minutes after which the Gandhis came out smiling. They had to navigate through jostling lawyers, journalists, security men and party workers to reach their cars.
Later addressing the media at the party office, Sonia, Rahul and Manmohan Singh hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of levelling “false allegations” against them and making “full use” of Government agencies to “deliberately target” the Opposition.
“We will continue the fight and not bow down,” they said.
Priyanka Gandhi, along with other Congress leaders, had entered the courtroom in advance.
While Manmohan Singh and some others were seated, Priyanka was seen standing. She came out chatting with her mother and brother once the proceedings were over.
As soon as the hearing commenced, the judge marked the presence of all the accused including Sonia, who was wearing a maroon-colour saree, and Rahul who was sporting a white kurta, half jacket and a blue trouser.
Senior Congress leaders A K Antony stood surety for Sonia while Priyanka Vadra was for her brother Rahul to fulfil the bail conditions.
Amidst media hype, hoopla and tight security, Sonia and Rahul entered the courtroom at 2.50 pm where the other three accused Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes and Suman Dubey were present along with top leaders of the party.
The hearing, during which only the advocates concerned, accused and party leaders were allowed to be inside the court room, commenced at around 2.53 pm when the judge came and occupied his seat.
A team of Congress lawyers, including senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and others, moved the bail pleas.
Swamy, however, referred to the Delhi High Court’s Decemebr 7 order saying the charges were prima facie serious in nature.
Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad was the surety for Fernandes, B K Hariprasad for Vora and Ajay Maken for Dubey.
Sonia and Rahul looked confident while walking inside the courtroom amid tight security and some advocates, who were standing outside the court building, shouted slogans in support of the Congress vice president.
The accused were directed to appear today by the court on December 8.
The case is based on a private criminal complaint lodged by Swamy against them of alleged cheating, conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.
The court has now asked Swamy to come up with the relied- upon documents in support of his complaint on the next date of hearing when it is likely to hear the arguments.
Earlier, Manmohan Singh and a host of Congress leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel Ambika Soni, Shiela Dikshit, Ashwini Kumar, Meira Kumar arrived at the court complex shortly before the hearing was to commence at 3 PM.
Sonia, Rahul, Vora (AICC Treasurer), Fernandes (AICC General Secretary), Dubey and Pitroda were summoned under sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) read with section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.
The trial court had on June 26 last year asked them to appear before it on August 7, 2014 but the order was stayed on August 6, 2014 by the High Court which on December 7 this year vacated the stay by rejecting the plea to quash the complaint and the summons.
On December 15, 2014, the court had further stayed the summons till final disposal of the petitions.
Swamy has accused them of cheating and misappropriation of funds in acquiring ownership of the now-defunct daily National Herald.
All of them were directors of Young Indian Ltd (YI), a company that was incorporated in 2010 and which took over the “debt” of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the publisher of National Herald.
Swamy had accused Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by just paying Rs 50 lakh by which YI obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore which AJL had owed to Congress party.
Along with the Gandhis, five other accused — Suman Dubey, Moti Lal Vora, Oscar Fernandez, Sam Pitroda and Young India Ltd — had challenged the summons issued to them by the trial court on Swamy’s complaint. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel