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Fraud charges: Bail for Sonia, Rahul
View(s):NEW DELHI, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Indian opposition leaders Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul made a rare court appearance today and won bail in a case of alleged graft they say Prime Minister Narendra Modi uses in a vendetta against their family. Hundreds of members of the Congress party were massed outside the court premises in Delhi in a show of support for the torchbearers of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has ruled India for most of its post-independence era after 1947. In the case, Subramanian Swamy, a prominent member of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged the Gandhis misused party funds to illegally acquire real estate assets worth millions of dollars.
The Gandhis deny any wrongdoing and today said they would not be deterred by attempts to frame them. ”I appeared in court with a clear conscience as every law abiding citizen should do,” Sonia told reporters after the court hearing, where she was flanked by several senior party leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“The current government is intentionally targeting its opponents by using government agencies.” The legal battle has sown further bitterness between Congress and Modi, who had vowed a “Congress-free India” even before he crushed the Gandhis in an election last year.
Swamy has alleged the Gandhis formed a shell company and illegally gained control of properties worth $300 million, which belonged to a firm that published National Herald, a newspaper founded by Rahul’s great grandfather.