New Delhi [India], July 21 (ANI): Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald case has concluded for the day and she left the office of the central probe agency in central Delhi. The questioning went on for nearly two hours. Sonia Gandhi’s daughter and party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accompanied her to the ED office. Party leader Rahul Gandhi also reached the ED office.

Sources said Sonia Gandhi may be called again for questioning on July 25. Congress leaders protested in different parts of the country over ED summons to the party’s interim chief. Seventy-five Congress MPs including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and several workers were detained by the Delhi Police for demonstrations against the questioning of the party chief.

Senior Congress leaders including P Chidambaram, Ajay Maken, Manickam Tagore, KC Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chaudhry, Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot, and Harish Rawat. Ashok Gehlot, K Suresh were among those detained. Congress workers in Nagpur were also detained in the wake of the protest.
The protest by the Congress turned violent in Bengaluru as the Youth Congress workers allegedly set a car on fire, in front of ED office.

Congress workers also stopped a train and blocked railway tracks at New Delhi’s Shivaji Bridge railway station. Chandigarh Police also used water cannons to disperse Congress workers and leaders as they protested over the questioning.

Party leader Jairam Ramesh said party MPs and CWC Members have courted mass arrest outside the party’s central office in a show of collective solidarity with Sonia Gandhi. Congress leaders accused the government of misusing the probe agencies to target political opponents.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who is also in Delhi, slammed the probe and said that since Sonia Gandhi is over 70 years old, ED should have gone to her residence if they wanted to question her.
“It is happening for the first time in the country that they are stopping dharna, demonstration,” he said.
Party leader Sachin Pilot alleged misuse of agencies in the country. “It’s our right to protest in a democracy, but it is also being crushed,” he said.

All MPs and leaders of Congress who were detained at New Police Line, Kingsway Camp were later released. Last month the ED questioned Rahul Gandhi for five days in the case. The ED had on June 1 summoned Sonia Gandhi to appear on June 8 in the case for the first time in connection with alleged money laundering in the National Herald case.

Sonia Gandhi could not appear for questioning after testing positive and being hospitalised for Covid-19. The case to investigate alleged financial irregularities under the PMLA was registered about nine months ago after a trial court took cognisance of an Income Tax Department probe carried out on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.

The petitioner had approached the court alleging that the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published the National Herald newspaper, were fraudulently acquired and transferred to Young Indian Pvt Limited (YIL), in which Sonia Gandhi and her son owned 38 per cent shares each.

The YIL promoters include Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Swamy had alleged that the Gandhis cheated and misappropriated funds, with YIL paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to Congress. Congress argued that YIL is a not-for-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 that can neither accumulate profits nor pay dividends to its shareholders.

Calling it a case of political vendetta, senior Supreme Court advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had said, “This is truly a very weird case — an alleged money laundering case on which summons are issued with no money involved.”

The federal agency’s move followed the questioning of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Treasurer Pawan Bansal in April this year in New Delhi. The National Herald is published by AJL and owned by YIL. Kharge is the CEO of YIL and Bansal is the Managing Director of AJL. The ED is probing shareholding pattern and financial transactions as well as the role of party functionaries in the functioning of AJL and YIL. (ANI)

By Payal Mehta

New Delhi [India], July 21 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate, which questioned Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald case on Thursday, kept two doctors and an ambulance on standby as a humanitarian gesture, agency sources said.

The central agency also allowed Sonia Gandhi’s daughter and party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at its office. The sources said that Sonia Gandhi was asked over two dozen questions “after which she asked to go home for her medication”. They said ED allowed this and it will call her for interrogation again on Monday.

Congress held protests in different parts of the country over ED summoning Sonia Gandhi with party leaders accusing the government of “political vendetta” against the opposition.

Party leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had said earlier in the day the ED should have gone to Sonia Gandhi’s residence if they wanted to question her.

Congress leader Kamal Nath in a tweet accused the government of misusing probe agencies and “breaching constitutional, cultural and political decorum” to induge in “cheap tactics” of troubling Sonia Gandhi.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the allegations that ED stopped investigation as Sonia Gandhi requested to leave because she is suffering from COVID-19 “are baseless”. “Interrogation ended because ED didn’t have anything to ask. Sonia Gandhi said, she’ll be present at ED office whenever they want,” he said.

Jairam Ramesh said Sonia Gandhi went to ED office and was interrogated for two-three hours “after which ED officials allowed her to leave as they didn’t have anything else to ask”. “On this, Congress president replied that they can ask her as many questions as they want,” he said.

ED sources countered the remarks of the Congress leader. “Looking at the health of Sonia Gandhi as a humanitarian gesture, two doctors and an ambulance were kept on standby and her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was also allowed to be at the office of the ED,” a top ED source said. “Even during her questioning which was for close to two-and-a-half hours, on two occasions her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was allowed to meet her. After asking her more than 12 questions once she said she would like to go home for medication, the agency allowed her to go home and in fact agreed to question her again on Monday,” the source added.

Seventy-five Congress MPs including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and several workers were detained by the Delhi Police for demonstrations against the questioning of the party chief. Senior Congress leaders including P Chidambaram, Ajay Maken, Manickam Tagore, KC Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chaudhry, Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot, and Harish Rawat. Ashok Gehlot, K Suresh were among those detained.

All MPs and leaders of Congress who were detained at New Police Line, Kingsway Camp were later released. Congress workers in Nagpur were also detained in the wake of the protest. The protest by the Congress turned violent in Bengaluru as the Youth Congress workers allegedly set a car on fire, in front of ED office.

Congress workers also stopped a train and blocked railway tracks at New Delhi’s Shivaji Bridge railway station. Chandigarh Police also used water cannons to disperse Congress workers and leaders as they protested over the questioning.

Last month the ED questioned Rahul Gandhi for five days in the case. The ED had on June 1 summoned Sonia Gandhi to appear on June 8 in the case for the first time in connection with alleged money laundering in the National Herald case. Sonia Gandhi could not appear for questioning after testing positive for COVID-19. (ANI)

Himachal Congress holds sit-in demonstration in support of Sonia as she appears before ED

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], July 21 (ANI): Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee on Thursday protested in front of the Enforcement Directorate office at Chhota Shimla here in support of Sonia Gandhi as the Congress interim president appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the National Herald case.

Sanjay Dutt, AICC secretary and co-incharge of Congress party affairs in Himachal Pradesh, said, “Today our leader Sonia Gandhi has been summoned by ED for investigation in a false case. The whole nation is seeing that a few days back Rahul Gandhi was also called questioned by the agency. Everyone knows that it’s a false and politically motivated case. We don’t understand why this is happening.”


According to him, the Modi government wants to suppress Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi through ED summons to lower the voice of the people of India.

“Under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the Congress party has become the voice of the common people of the country who are talking against issues like inflation, unemployment, failed law and order situation, national security, and democracy that is in danger, the misuse of independent agencies by the Modi government. We are becoming the voice of the common man and are struggling. That is why the Modi government wants to suppress Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to lower the voice of the people of India. But we would like to say that we will continue the struggle for the people of India and against the government that is anti-people,” Dutt added.

The AICC secretary warned that Congress will protest outside the ED office Friday if the agency’s summons against the Congress leaders is not stopped. “They can frame all the false cases through ED, CBI, and other agencies but we will still continue this struggle. Today you’ve seen that all main leaders of Himachal Congress from all districts have come here and we held a sit-in protest outside the ED office and gave the warning to stop the atrocity and by the end, the truth will prevail. Tomorrow we are going to hold a protest at each office in all districts and if such wrong policies are not stopped, then we will take this protest to the block level.”

He said that the Jairam Thakur-led BJP government has failed the common people in the state. “The Jairam Thakur government in Himachal Pradesh has failed at all levels in the last four years. People have understood that they have just presented ‘Jumlas’ and have not done any development work. They talk about double-engine government, but their engine was derailed from the very first day. Now it’s their time to leave. We have gathered to tell that our movement will continue and we are neither going to stop nor bow down or fear,” he said.

Mukesh Agnihotri, state Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, while protesting outside the ED office said, “Today we have come outside the ED office protesting against Sonia Gandhi’s ED summons. Through the ED summons, the Central government is killing democracy.”

“One family that has given everything for the country. Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed his life for the nation, and Indira Gandhi too supremely sacrificed her life for this nation before that Jawaharlal Nehru fought the fight for independence. National Herald newspaper is a nationalist newspaper. We will continue to say that it was prepared for the fight for independence and has played a role. When there was a problem in running it, the Congress party helped it,” he added.

Agnihotri stated that the political scenario will change in Himachal Pradesh within three months and the Jairam Thakur government will not remain in power. “Sonia Gandhi is a leader who rejected to become the prime minister and you’re pointing fingers at them. The ED and CBI have become the puppets of the government. The politics of suppression is not going to run for a long time. Change is going to come and in Himachal Pradesh, within three months, the power is going to change. Jairam Thakur government will certainly not remain in power. They are going the same way the way they lost four seats. The BJP is worried about the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat elections and that therefore they are trying to disturb the Congress leadership,” he added.

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday appeared before Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the National Herald case. Gandhi was accompanied by her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reached the ED office in the national capital. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also arrived at the ED office. Several Congress leaders were detained as the party put on a show of strength by staging nationwide demonstrations in support of the party chief.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that they raising the issue of misuse of central probe agencies by the Centre. “They (ruling party) want to show how powerful they are. We’ve raised the issue of inflation in Parliament but they’re not ready for discussion. We are now raising the issue of misuse of central probe agencies,” Kharge.

Congress MP Deepender Hooda said that they are protesting peacefully. “We are protesting peacefully. They cannot suppress our voice,” said Hooda.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who is also in Delhi slammed the probe and said that since Sonia Gandhi is over 70 years old, the ED should have gone to her house for investigation. (ANI)