TRIAL// Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and party Vice President Rahul sought and got bail in the National Herald case after a local court rejected complainant Subramanian Swamy’s opposition to the relief for them on the ground that they are influential and can flee the country. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stood surety for Sonia, while Priyanka Vadra gave surety for her brother Rahul. Amidst media hype and tight security, Sonia and Rahul and three other accused — Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes and Suman Dubey — appeared before the Metropolitan Magistrate in the Patiala House courts complex in pursuance of the summons issued to them on December 8. The case is based on a private criminal complaint lodged by Swamy against them of cheating, conspiracy and criminal breach of trust. Swamy has accused them of cheating and misappropriation of funds in acquiring ownership of the now-defunct daily National Herald. All of them were directors of Young Indian Ltd (YI), a company that was incorporated in 2010 and which took over the “debt” of Associated Journals Ltd, the publisher of National Herald. Swamy had accused Sonia and Rahul and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by just paying Rs 50 lakh by which YI obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore, which the AJL had owed to the Congress party. All the accused had challenged the summons issued to them by trial court on Swamy’s complaint.