​A Delhi court has deferred issuing notices to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald money laundering case, directing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to first rectify deficiencies in its chargesheet.

During a hearing on Friday, Special Judge Vishal Gogne noted that certain documents were missing or not properly serialized in the chargesheet filed by the ED on April 9. The court emphasized that it could not proceed with issuing notices until these issues were addressed. The ED was instructed to file the missing documents and correct the serialization before the next hearing, scheduled for May 2 .​

The ED has charged Sonia and Rahul Gandhi as accused numbers 1 and 2 under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which pertain to money laundering and its punishment, respectively. The agency alleges that Young Indian Pvt Ltd, a company in which the Gandhis hold a controlling interest, acquired Associated Journals Ltd (AJL)—the publisher of the National Herald newspaper—for ₹50 lakh, despite AJL’s assets being valued at approximately ₹5,000 crore. The ED claims that the Gandhis are the real beneficiaries of this transaction .​

The court’s directive to the ED underscores the importance of procedural compliance and complete documentation in legal proceedings. The matter will be revisited on May 2, once the ED has addressed the noted deficiencies in its chargesheet.​

Sources