A notice has been sent by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police to Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and his brother D K Suresh, asking them to provide details of any financial transactions they had with Young Indian, the company which owns the National Herald newspaper. This comes a week after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a fresh case with the Delhi Police in the National Herald case.
The notice, dated November 29, asks Shivakumar and Suresh to submit complete details and bifurcation of the amount given to Young Indian (YI) by them or associated/related companies/firms/HUF.
“What was the purpose of bank transfer of above said funds to Young Indian? Whether any communication (in black & white, electronic, emails, etc) was done between you and M/s Young Indian (YI) or any other person/stakeholders related with AICC or otherwise,” the notice asks.
The notice also inquires about the “source of the donations” that Shivakumar allegedly made to YI, and whether donation certificates were issued for the same.
“How you were shown these bank transfers in your financial statements, ITR in the relevant time? Provide the relevant documents in this regard,” the notice says.
Both Shivakumar and Suresh have been asked to submit their replies by December 19.
On April 9, the ED filed a chargesheet against seven people, including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, in connection with the National Herald case. Both Sonia and Rahul were questioned in 2022 as part of the probe.
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Six months later, the ED filed a fresh case with the Delhi Police, levelling new allegations against them. The agency claims that government-allotted properties, originally granted to Associated Journals Limited (AJL) at concessional rates for public welfare, were “diverted for private benefit”.
Earlier, the central agency had served notices to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore — in Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow — that it had attached as part of the money laundering probe against AJL, which publishes the National Herald newspaper, and Young Indian, which owns it.
The FIR, registered on October 3 by one Shiv Kumar Gupta, Assistant Director with the ED, mentioned names of Sonia and Rahul, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, Young Indian, Dotex Merchandise Pvt Ltd, Sunil Bhandari, Associated Journals Ltd and unknown people under IPC Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
“The case enumerates the issue of government properties being allotted to AJL at subsidised rates for larger public purposes, only to be usurped and misused by the beneficial owners of Young Indian and thus represents a serious form of criminal conspiracy and financial fraud. These properties were given at concessional rates for public welfare activities, (and) have been illegally diverted for personal gain,” the FIR alleged.
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“The prosecution complaint was already filed by the ED for commission of offences under PMLA pertaining to money laundering by the accused persons relating to the scheduled offences, inter-alia cheating and criminal conspiracy, by actually and knowingly involved in the process or activity connected with proceeds of crime derived or obtained by way of criminal activity relating to the scheduled offences of cheating and criminal conspiracy which led to the fraudulent takeover of the properties worth more than Rs 2,000 crore of market value of AJL, beneficially owned by Sonia and Rahul, for a paltry sum of Rs 50 lakhs only,” the FIR said.
“The accused persons have exploited these assets by engaging in fraudulent activities such as collecting bogus rents or generating fake revenue through sham advertisements, thereby laundering illicit money under the guise of legitimate transactions,” the FIR said.