Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

The Delhi High Court ordered the torchbearers of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty to appear in court over alleged misuse of party funds, in a new blow for the family that lost power to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.

Sonia Gandhi, president of the opposition Congress party, and her son, Rahul, face accusations they used $13.5 million of party funds to pay debts accrued by a newspaper business.

Plaintiffs say the transaction benefited a not-for-profit company they own.

The Gandhis deny any wrongdoing.

A spokesman for their Congress party, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is also a lawyer representing the Gandhis, said they would challenge the order legally, a move that will likely take the case to the Supreme Court.

Rahul Gandhi is the great-grandson of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Members of the family have led India for most of its post-independence era since 1947.

Since taking office in 2014, Modi’s government has moved to diminish the power of the dynasty, which it accuses of stunting development. The case against the family was brought by Subramanian Swamy, an activist lawyer who is a vocal member of Modi’s ruling party.

The mother-son duo will need to appear in a district court in the capital on Tuesday, Swamy told reporters.

A lower court first summoned the Gandhis in June last year. On Monday, the Delhi High Court rejected their plea to exempt them from a personal appearance, another of their lawyers said.

Sonia Gandhi last year accused the Modi-led government of a “political witch hunt” after tax authorities started investigating her party in relation with the same case.

Related articles across the web

• Make me a Union minister instead: Here's why Subramanian Swamy will not be the next VC of JNU
• Sundar Pichai welcomes Indian Prime Minister to Google HQ
• NMML's integrity
• PM Modi arrives in Ireland, first Indian PM to visit country in 60 years
• Narendra Modi in Ireland: Indian prime minister addresses diaspora at start of two-nation trip
• India's Modi to Visit Ireland Ahead of US
• Rahul using PM's name to stay in news: Venkaiah
• 'Farmers are India's destiny makers, but PM has no time for them'
• PM Modi to Visit Ireland on September 23, First by an Indian PM in 60 Years
• Modi seeks Ireland's support for UN Security Council membership