Congress president Sonia Gandhi, son Rahul Gandhi and other three accused — Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes and Suman Dubey — were granted exemption from personal appearance by a Delhi court on Saturday as per the Supreme Court’s February 12 order.
The court also granted bail to co-accused Sam Pitroda on a personal bond of Rs. 50,000 and a surety of the like amount.
The Gandhis and the other accused in the case also told the court that BJP leader Subramanian Swamy should first satisfy it about the relevance of documents which were ordered to be summoned from various Ministries in the matter.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Gandhis, told Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen that complainant Mr. Swamy will have to show as to how these documents summoned by the court on January 11 were relevant to the case.
Mr. Sibal told the court that the order has been challenged before the High Court by Motilal Vora, an accused in the case, and the High Court has issued a notice to Mr. Swamy on the plea.
The lawyers representing the accused also told the court that these documents should be kept in a sealed cover till the issue is decided by the High Court.
Opposing the contentions, Mr. Swamy told the court that the documents, which were placed before the magistrate, were related to Associated Journal Ltd (AJL) and they were required for the case.
During the hearing, Mr. Swamy argued that although the High Court has issued a notice on Mr. Vora’s plea it had not stayed the order summoning documents from these Ministries.
The magistrate fixed the matter for March 21, considering that the petition filed before the High Court is likely to be heard on March 15.
