ED questions Sonia for 2 hours, Congress uses occasion to stage show of strength

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday questioned Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in a money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper The day was a show of strength for the party with street protests and leaders courting arrest across the countryThe questioning of the 75yearold who is recovering from Covid lasted for about two hours and the session ended on her request officials said She is likely to be called for another round of questioning in the next couple of days they saidThe session was conducted keeping in mind Covid protocol with everyone participating equipped with a Covid negative certificateSonia Gandhi was questioned by the same assistant directorlevel investigation officer who interrogated her son Rahul Gandhi in the case related to alleged financial irregularities in the Congresspromoted Young Indian Private Limited which owns National Herald A woman officer was part of the questioning teamThe summons to the Congress president took political centrestage in Parliament where opposition leaders raised the issue and on the streets with party workers staging massive protestsAs parts of central Delhi went into gridlock Sonia Gandhi reached the federal probe agencys headquarters in Lutyens Delhis A P J Abdul Kalam Road a little after noon escorted by her Z category CRPF security coverThe Congress president seen wearing a mask was accompanied by her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi VadraPriyanka Gandhi was allowed to stay in the Pravartan Bhawan headquarters of the agency away from the questioning room so she could be with her mother in case of a health issue and give her medicines However Rahul Gandhi left soon afterAhead of Sonia Gandhis appearance Delhi Police deployed a huge force including CRPF and RAF personnel and barricaded the entire over one kilometre stretch between her residence and the ED officeThe Congress party slammed the agencys action against its top leadership and termed it political vendettaAll Congress MPs and CWC members have courted mass arrest outside our party headquarters in a show of collective solidarity with Congress president Sonia Gandhi a target of Vishgurus political vendetta said Congress general secretary Jairam RameshHis party colleague P Chidambaram said the ED is not higher than the Supreme CourtWhat is that the ED wants to investigate that will not be examined by the SC he askedOther Opposition leaders voiced their protest too Leaders of 13 political parties including the DMK Shiv Sena RJD and the Left met at Parliament House and issued a statement accusing the government of unleashing a relentless campaign of vendetta against its political opponents and critics through the mischievous misuse of investigative agenciesProminent leaders of a number of political parties have been deliberately targeted and subjected to harassment in an unprecedented manner the leaders saidThe oppositions presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha said he strongly condemned the EDs attitude to humiliate political leadersThe officers of ED shd have gone to her residence even if they had questions to ask of Sonia Gandhi he said on TwitterYet again the Extended Department ED of BJP is insulating the party from peoples anger towards price rise joblessness and inflation By repeatedly calling opposition leaders with zero evidence against them is deliberate political vendetta carried out on behalf of the BJP Shiv Sena leader Priyanka ChaturvediThe issue echoed in Parliament as well where the Congress and other Opposition parties sought to raise the issueWith tempers running high Union minister Pralhad Joshi asked whether the Opposition party believes everyone is equal before the law or notIs she some super human because she is the Congress president he askedThe Congress chief had been summoned twice earlier but sought an exemption on grounds of Covid Her statement was recorded by the agency under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLAThe probe relates to alleged financial irregularities in the Congresspromoted Young Indian Private Limited which owns the National Herald newspaperRahul Gandhi was questioned by the agency in the case for over 50 hours in sessions spread across five days last monthThe move to question the Gandhis was initiated after the ED late last year registered a fresh case under criminal provisions of the PMLA This was after a trial court here took cognisance of an Income Tax department probe against Young Indian on the basis of a private criminal complaint by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are among the promoters and majority shareholders of Young Indian Like her son the Congress president too has 38 per cent shareholdingSwamy had accused the Gandhis and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds with YI paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 9025 crore that AJL owed to the CongressIn February last year the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Gandhis for their response on Swamys pleaCongress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal were questioned by the ED in the case in AprilThe Congress party has maintained that there has been no wrongdoing and Young Indian is a notforprofit company established under section 25 of the Companies Act and hence there can be no question of money launderingIt is understood that Rahul Gandhi during his deposition before the ED stuck to the position that there was no personal acquisition of assets by himself or his familyAccording to the ED assets worth about Rs 800 crore are owned by the AJL and it wants to know from the Gandhis how a notforprofit company like Young Indian was undertaking commercial activities of renting out its land and building assetsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever