Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge launched a sharp attack on the central government on Wednesday, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to resign after a Delhi court refused to take cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate’s charge sheet in the National Herald case.
The charge sheet, which named Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, was dismissed by the court on the grounds that it was not legally permissible to act upon it. Kharge said the ruling exposed what he called the political motives behind the case.
Addressing the media, Kharge claimed that the aim of the investigation was to “harass the Gandhi family” and that the case had been driven by “political vendetta.” He described the court’s decision as a “slap in the face” for the government and demanded accountability from its top leaders.
He further argued that the National Herald newspaper, founded in 1938 by freedom fighters, was being targeted for political gain and accused the ruling party of trying to “defame” it by linking it to allegations of money laundering.
Kharge reiterated that the government was misusing investigative agencies to intimidate opposition leaders and suggested that the latest ruling reaffirmed the triumph of truth. “The verdict has come in favour of justice,” he said.
The court held that since the money-laundering complaint stemmed from a private complaint under Section 200 of the CrPC—not from a police FIR—taking cognisance of the ED’s submission would be legally impermissible. It also observed that the agency’s actions appeared to exceed the proper legal framework.
Photo By Ajay Kumar Koli, via Wikimedia Commons
