National Herald case: Subramanian Swamy to appeal for CBI probe

MUMBAI: Even as the Congress is battling charges levelled by BJP’s Subramanian Swamy that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul purchased Associated Journals, Swamy is all set to scale up his attack by approaching the Delhi High Court and seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into his allegations.

Swamy has alleged that the Gandhi duo and other senior Congress leaders conspired to pay Rs 50 lakh to help Young Indian acquire the assets worth several hundred crore of rupees of Associated Journals, publisher of the defunct National Herald newspaper.

The BJP leader plans to approach the Delhi High Court after July 7 and ask for a CBI probe, claiming that the "fraud" related to National Herald concerned not just Delhi but other states as well.



"Land given to Associated Journals Ltd has been mis misused by violating the lease conditions by using it for commercial purposes," Swamy said.

"In Panchkula, where a land has been allotted, a tourist home is being run from the premises. In Bhopal, where land was allotted for just Rs 2 per acre, there is a mall being run. In Indore, there is a departmental store....since different states are involved in this, I am going to ask for a CBI probe," said Swamy.

The land given by the Maharashtra government would also be mentioned in his petition, Swamy said.

"Land given to AJL by the Maharashtra government was initially reserved for backward class students. However, the reservation was changed and National Herald was given over the land. This land is worth crores," he said.

Congress party’s treasurer and one of the directors of Associated Journals, Motilal Vora said without elaborating, "Let him (Swamy) file the case, we will then respond to it."