The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday recorded the statement of Congress president Sonia Gandhi for three hours in the National Herald money laundering case and ended the session for the day on her request as she is recovering from Covid, officials said.
Gandhi, 75, arrived at the ED headquarters located at Vidyut Lane flanking A P J Abdul Kalam Road in central Delhi a little after noon escorted by her Z+ category CRPF security cover.
The questioning began around 12:30 pm after completion of some formalities like verification of summons and signature in the attendance sheet, sources said.
She has been allowed to leave on her request made on medical grounds, sources said and has been summoned again on July 25.
The probe relates to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the National Herald newspaper.
Congress Protests Sonia Gandhi Summon.
The party has slammed the agency’s action and called it a “political vendetta”. Several Congress leaders were detained as the party held nationwide demonstrations in support of the party chief.
Carrying large banners saying “stop misuse of ED”, Congress leaders today held a march inside the Parliament complex in a show of strength against the Enforcement Directorate. Large number of demonstrations are also being held across the country.
“Prime Minister forgets that his idea of Congress is based on leaders they have taken from us. They have to reborn several times to understand what Congress party is, what Gandhi family is,” the party said in a press conference called this morning.
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“We are protesting the ED summons to Mrs Sonia Gandhi. The AJL-Young India transaction is recorded in the books of account, the returns filed by the two companies and in the Income Tax returns. All that the ED wants to know can be found in the records,” tweeted Congress leader P. Chidambaram, who was detained during protests in Delhi.
Earlier today, a meeting chaired by the Congress to discuss “relentless political vendetta” by the Centre was attended by almost 13 opposition parties.
A statement released by like-minded opposition parties has condemned the BJP-led Centre’s “misuse” of investigating agencies. Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP has also given a zero-hour notice over “misuse of central investigation agencies by the ruling government”.
Meanwhile Congress supporters set a car on fire in Bengaluru and stopped trains.
