NEW DELHI: Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia, the most senior members of India’s Congress Party, have been accused in a money laundering case by the country’s financial crimes agency, news agency ANI reported on Tuesday.
The financial crimes agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), presented the charge sheet, to a New Delhi court.
The ED accused the Gandhis, who have previously denied any wrongdoing in the case, of forming a shell company to illegally take control of property worth $300 million that belonged to a firm which published the National Herald newspaper.
The charge sheet also names other members of the Congress party. The ED did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.
“Filing charge sheets against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and some others is nothing but the politics of vendetta and intimidation by the PM,” Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress party and its leadership will not be silenced, Ramesh added.
Rahul Gandhi and Sonia were questioned by the ED in 2022 as part of a probe into the case. In November 2023, the agency said it had seized assets worth 7.52 billion rupees ($87.72m linked to the case, including properties in New Delhi and Mumbai, and equity investments.
The National Herald newspaper was founded in 1937 by Jawaharlal Nehru, who went on to become India’s first prime minister. Congress has been led for decades by his descendants — Rahul Gandhi is Nehru’s great-grandson.
Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2025
