New Delhi: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police has filed a fresh First Information Report (FIR) against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, along with six others, in connection with the alleged irregular acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL). The FIR, dated October 3, comes just as the winter session of Parliament is set to begin on Monday.

The case revolves around allegations that the Congress leaders and their associates worked together to wrongfully take control of AJL, which was previously linked to the Congress and had properties worth about Rs 2,000 crore.

According to the FIR, the takeover was carried out through Young Indian, a company in which the Gandhis together held 76 per cent of the shares.

Why has the FIR been filed now?

The police action follows a complaint submitted by the Headquarters Investigative Unit (HIU) of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED had shared detailed findings from its probe into the National Herald money laundering case, covering the period between 2008 and 2024.

Sharing of information under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) allows the ED to request another agency to register and investigate a scheduled offence. Once such an offence is recorded, it becomes the basis, or predicate offence, for the ED to continue its own money laundering probe.

Background of the investigation

The ED’s inquiry stems from a private complaint filed by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy. A metropolitan magistrate at Patiala House had taken cognisance of the complaint in June 2014, setting the legal process in motion. Since then, the ED has been conducting an inquiry into the alleged irregularities linked to AJL and its acquisition.

How has the Congress responded?

Congress’s top legal adviser Abhishek Manu Singhvi dismissed the fresh FIR as “just another rehash job.” The party has claimed that “each time the party wants to raise an issue, such old cases are whipped up.”

The court is expected to deliver its verdict in the Herald case on December 16.

Will this affect Congress’s parliamentary strategy?

Even as the Congress was preparing to challenge the government on multiple issues such as the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), China, and the Red Fort blast, the fresh FIR naming Sonia and Rahul Gandhi could shift the party’s focus.

The Congress had already been on the defensive, with the party’s corruption record highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014. Modi had campaigned on the promise of a “strong, clean government” and frequently points out how the Congress is “identified with corruption which reaches the top – the Gandhis.”