New Delhi, April 16 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its first chargesheet in the high-profile National Herald money laundering case, naming senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Sam Pitroda, among others.

The chargesheet has been submitted to the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi, which is scheduled to hear arguments on April 25.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, responding to the case, alleged that the government is misusing central agencies for political gain. Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi described the National Herald case as ‘fake’, slamming the alleged misuse of enforcement agencies for political vendetta.

Reacting to the development, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi has said that Congress should keep this point in mind that this case was filed before the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre.

On ED's chargesheet against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, Sudhanshu Trivedi, while talking to IANS, stated, "Today ED has included the names of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the chargesheet in the National Herald case. This is a completely technical matter. The Congress party should note that this case started in 2012, and through a PIL, the Delhi High Court started this case in October 2013. This means that this case was filed even before the Narendra Modi government came to power. There is no basis for the Congress party to do politics on this issue."

He further said, "This is a strange case in the history of India, in which a company which had assets worth thousands of crores was sold for a liability of Rs 90 crore. Apart from this, 76 per cent of the shares were owned by Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi alone. I want to ask the Congress that it was established by Pandit Nehru, and Associate General Limited (AJL) was established by freedom fighters. Many people had also raised objections that the shareholders had shares, yet it was given without asking them. I want to ask that even after the Congress ruled for five-six decades, how did the three newspapers established by Pandit Nehru go into losses, due to which they had to be closed. Did the Congress governments not support it at all?"

Sudhanshu Trivedi said, "The claims of Congress officials and workers that freedom fighters and Congress had an emotional attachment to it. This case is proving how true this emotional attachment was. Congress' claims on both moral and technical grounds seem very hollow, baseless and motivated by malice."

The BJP MP also praised PM Modi's leadership. He said, "When our government was formed under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, its goal was how the country can take a significant leap in the field of technology and create a broad base for the economic development of the nation. For example, promoting solar energy and establishing the International Solar Alliance and promoting defence production. A strong base and path for India's development has been created under the leadership of PM Modi."