Itanagar, Dec 16 (PTI) The Arunachal Pradesh unit of the Congress on Tuesday welcomed the ruling of a Delhi court which refused to take cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate's money laundering charge against senior leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and five others in the National Herald case.

The party's state unit termed the court order a decisive blow to what it described as the BJP-led government’s vindictive and unconstitutional use of central agencies to target the Opposition.

Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bosiram Siram claimed that the ruling exposed the ‘malafide and politically motivated’ actions of the BJP-led government.

He asserted that the proceedings initiated by the ED were ‘fabricated, arbitrary and completely without jurisdiction’.

The ED has accused Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, as well as late party leaders Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes, along with Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, and a private company, Young Indian, of conspiracy and money laundering.

Special Judge Vishal Gogne said the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing has already lodged an FIR in the case, and hence it will be premature to adjudicate on ED's arguments in the case based on merits.

“The Court has ruled that without a lawful FIR, the ED had no authority to initiate or continue the proceedings, rendering the entire case null and void in the eyes of law,” Siram said. PTI UPL UPL NN

National Herald case: ruling finds ED lacked authority without lawful FIR, nullifying money laundering charges against Congress leaders. The ruling held that without a lawful FIR the Enforcement Directorate lacked jurisdiction to initiate or continue PMLA proceedings, rendering the investigative steps null and void; the ED had alleged conspiracy and money laundering by senior Congress leaders and associated entities in the National Herald matter.