National Herald Case: Delhi High Court adjourns hearing till May 18

Delhi High Court on Monday adjourned hearing till May 18 on BJP MP Subramaniam Swamy's plea challenging trial court order regarding summoning of various documents and witnesses in National Herald case.

A single-Judge Bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait has taken the decision and adjourned the matter for May 18 for further hearing.

Earlier the Delhi High Court had issued notice to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi on Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) MP Subramaniam Swamy plea challenging trial court order regarding summoning of various documents, witnesses and stayed the further cross-examination of himself.

The trial court had said earlier that Swamy's application shall be considered, after the evidence of the complainant is over.

"National Herald case is a quintessential case of documentary evidence and therefore these documents need to be proved through their witnesses. Due to the fact that there are many documents that have been annexed to the chief examination of the complainant, which are public documents, 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 plea had stated.

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 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 against Sonia, Rahul and other associated persons.

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 the two Gandhis 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.

(ANI)

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