National Herald Scam: Sonia, Rahul Gandhi corner Subramanian Swamy; court notice issued

New Delhi, Aug 1: In a latest development in

, now

got a notice from Delhi High Court. Congress President

and Vice President

finally got a chance to smile.

Reacting on a petition filed by the Gandhis, the Delhi High Court sent the notice to the BJP leader and hearing would be held on Aug 5.

The high court issued the notice to Swamy hours after Enforcement Directorate (ED) began a preliminary probe in the case. According to reports, ED inquiry has been registered "just to establish whether there is a case or not."

Earlier a court had summoned the Gandhis in connection with allegations hurled against them by Swamy. Many other Congress leaders too were summoned to the court and the leaders were --Motilal Vora and senior Congress member Oscar Fernandes.

Subramanian Swamy's allegations against the Gandhis:

The complaint alleged that the Gandhis formed a company, Young India, in 2010 with 38 percent share each to take control of Rs 2,000 crore worth of assets of Associated Journals Ltd, which published the National Herald.

The National Herald was started in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru. Over the decades, it lost circulation and ran into major financial losses, leading to its closure in 2008.

According to Subramanian Swamy, the offense was made possible because of the Gandhis' "crony control over the Congress party and AJL".

The BJP leader alleged that they closed AJL in 2008 due to financial crisis and stopped printing the National Herald and sister publications Navjivan (Hindi) and Qaumi Awaz (Urdu), which were saddled with huge unpaid debts.

To resolve the financial crisis, AJL transferred the share equity to Young India by a mere payment of Rs 50 lakhs without taking any reference from the shareholders.

Young India thus acquired the complete ownership of AJL real estate assets of at least Rs 2,000 crores, including a multi-storey building in a prime location in Delhi.

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