In a dramatic turn of events in Delhi High Court, hearing in the National Herald case on Thursday went back to the second Judge Justice Sunil Gaur, who was shifted from the case in September. The case, which was listed for hearing before the third judge Justice PS Teji, was changed to Justice Gaur, a day after Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi demanded continuing with the second Judge who heard the matter for six months.
“I was not recused from the case. I was shifted. But now matter is clear as the Registry allotted the case to me again,” said Justice Gaur. He said petition of Sonia and Rahul became “infructuous” as the case was allotted to him on Wednesday evening.
The proceedings in the National Herald case resumed with lightning speed witnessing the closure of arguments by three advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi and Harin Rawal, representing Congress leaders Sonia, Rahul, Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandez.
The arguments of other accused Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda will resume on Friday. The complainant and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said he will start arguments on Monday.
Sibal contended that Swamy had no locus standi in the case. “Swamy is a complete outsider. This is Congress party’s pure internal affair. There is no victim in the case. The trial court had totally erred in issuing summons against us. The complaint of Swamy was nothing but politically motivated,” reiterated Sibal.
On September 3, Justice Gaur had collected written arguments from all parties and posted the case on October 8 promising speedy disposal of the appeal filed by the Congress leaders against the trial court’s summons. But in the middle of September, Justice Gaur was shifted and the case was assigned to new judge Justice Teji.
Earlier, the case was handled by Justice VP Vaish, who recused from the case in January after ordering daily hearing. For the past 15 months, the National Herald case is lingering in the High Court after Sonia and Rahul filed appeal to quash the trial court summons to them in the petition filed by Swamy in August 2014.