New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have said it is “abuse of the process of law” that ED has challenged in Delhi High Court a trial court order refusing to take cognisance of its charge sheet against them in the National Herald-linked money laundering case.In a response filed in HC, the Gandhis have opposed ED’s revision petition, saying it is “not maintainable” as the trial court’s order is “perfectly legal and sound in law and does not suffer from any jurisdictional error, perversity, irregularity or illegality”.Tuesday, Justice Sachin Datta was informed by the Gandhis’ counsel that they filed the replies on Sept 18. The court listed the matter for further hearing on Oct 12.“The petitioner (ED) has miserably failed to demonstrate that the complaint filed by the ED was maintainable on the basis of the statutory provisions, applicable to the case. It is writ large that the words ‘private complaint’ or ‘a complaint by a public person/citizen’, do not find any place in the entire statutory framework,” they contended.On Dec 16, 2025, the trial court had held that cognisance of the agency’s complaint in the case was “impermissible in law” as it was not founded on an FIR.In its order, the trial court had said that the agency’s probe stemmed from a private complaint, and not an FIR, and despite receiving the complaint made by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and the consequent summoning order in 2014, the CBI refrained from registering an FIR in relation to the alleged scheduled offence.ED, in its plea in the high court, claimed that the trial court order has in effect given a hall pass to a category of money launderers only on the ground that the scheduled offence is reported by a private individual by way of a complaint to a magistrate.Opposing ED’s plea, the Gandhis said this case provides the only instance where a non-statutory complaint by a private person has been made the foundation of initiating proceedings under the PMLA.The reply also mentioned that ED has filed the petition in the high court at “lightning speed” as the order was passed by the trial court on Dec 16, 2025, and the agency approached the high court on Dec 17.
