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A New Delhi court will hear a long-term case this week about alleged financial insufficient insufficient insufficient things by Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi who have potentially far-reaching implications for the Indian national congress of the opposition.
The case against two of India’s most prominent and polarizing opposition politicians – and the possibility of a rare court – has produced the feverish discussion and accusations of political interference by the ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Directorate Directorate of Enforcement, the India’s Financial Crime Agency, accused several people who were connected to the CongrraSpartij, including the two Gandhi family members, with alleged money laundering and embezzlement of funds. The charges have a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
The probe was opened for the first time 13 years ago, but last week the Rouse Avenue court ordered the case the case to be accused of first appearing in court since the indictment was submitted.
The Gandhis have denied misconduct.
Rahul Gandhi is the opposition leader of India and a prominent modes critic. He led a spicy but non-successful campaign to dismiss the three-male prime minister in last year’s elections.
Sonia Gandhi, a member of parliament of a first house, is the mother of Rahul and the widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The family is admired by supporters of the Centrum-Linkse Congrespartij, which ruled India for decades after independence, who produces six prime ministers, but it is taunted by Modi’s camp for what they say is the report of Misrule.
The party has denounced the charges as a “Vendetta in legal disguise” aimed at silence the opposition. A spokesperson for the Congrest Party did not respond to a request for comment.
The case was submitted in 2012 by Subramanian Swamy, a politician who is affiliated with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party, under a provision in the Indian law with which private individuals can submit criminal complaints for a magistrate.
Swamy accused the Gandhis of abusing funds and seizing land by Young Indian, a company that has taken over associated journals Limited (AJL), publisher of the National Herald, a newspaper with the Congress-Uitgelengelagige Krant.
The politician’s complaint claimed that the Gandhi’s Young Indian used as a “sham” to convert public money into personal use.
Swamy claimed that AJL took an interest -free loan from RS902.5MN (now $ 10.7 million) from the congress, which reportedly did not repay. Instead, the loan was transferred to Young Indian, a private company founded in 2010, of which Rahul Gandhi was the director and Sonia Gandhi later became a member of the board. The loan transfer enabled the company to acquire AJL’s assets, Swamy claimed.
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Two of the other defendants are Sam Pitroda, member of the Congrestment Party, and Suman Dubey, a family friend of Gandhi. Two more died since the case opened. Pitroda and Dubey have denied both misconduct.
In the past, the Modi government has had to deal with accusations of the congress and other opposition groups of abuse of research agencies to put pressure on its political opponents.
Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren, two prominent opposition leaders, spent time in prison in separate corruption cases in the run -up to the elections last year. Both men were released on bail, although their affairs are underway.
“Rahul Gandhi is the leader of the opposition,” said Asim Ali, an independent political analyst. “I don’t think they want to send him to prison, but I think they will keep this case to the boil.”
Modi’s BJP did not immediately respond to a request for comments, but in the past the officials said that the judiciary acted independently in the money laundering shop and rejected claims that they are pursuing a political agenda.
Gandhi was convicted of criminal defamation in a separate case in 2023 and sentenced to two years in prison for suggesting in 2019 that people with the surname Modi were “thieves”. The verdict has also disqualified him to serve in parliament.
The Supreme Court later remained the conviction, which Gandhi had described as politically motivated, allowing him to win back his chair.