New Delhi: The Congress’ legal battle has begun. Party chief Sonia Gandhi, son Rahul and others were on Saturday granted unconditional bail in the high-voltage National Herald case by a local court after a 10-minute hearing.
All the leaders accused in the case appeared before the court with the top brass of the Congress. Facing a private criminal complaint lodged by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy relating to the transfer of shares of the defunct party newspaper National Herald to a newly-created company, the two Gandhis, accompanied by former PM Manmohan Singh, besides Ms Priyanka Gandhi, appeared before metropolitan magistrate Lovleen at 2.50 pm.
A smiling Mrs Gandhi, closely followed by her son, emerged from the Patiala House courts complex in the heart of the capital after 15 minutes of proceedings. The party’s lawyers — Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and others were at hand. While Mr Sibal is fighting the case for Mrs Gandhi, Mr Singhvi is representing Mr Rahul Gandhi.
The Gandhis and three other accused in the case — Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes and Suman Dubey — sought bail which was granted after they furnished personal bonds of Rs 50,000 and one surety each. One of the accused, Sam Pitroda, was not present as he was stated to be unwell.
Mr Swamy pressed the court to impose conditions on the foreign travel of the accused, which was not accepted by the court.
