Rahul Gandhi questioned for 4th time, to appear before ED again today

Accompanied by his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul arrived at the ED headquarters at around 11.05 am and was interrogated for over nine hours with a 75-minute break at 3.15 pm, officials familiar with the development said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for the fourth time in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper and summoned him again on Tuesday, even as party leaders and workers across the country continued their protest against the action.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Accompanied by his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul arrived at the ED headquarters at around 11.05 am and was interrogated for over nine hours with a 75-minute break at 3.15 pm, officials familiar with the development said.

The Wayanad MP was questioned for around 30 hours last week, from June 13 to 15, amid intense protests and subsequent detention of party leaders and workers.

Gandhi was initially summoned for the fourth time on June 17, but requested the agency to defer his questioning in the wake of the poor health of his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who has been in hospital due to Covid-related issues since June 12. The agency accepted Rahul’s request and postponed his questioning to Monday.

The case relates to alleged financial irregularities in the party-promoted Young Indian (YI), which owns the National Herald newspaper. ED registered a new case under the criminal provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after a trial court in Delhi took cognisance of an Income Tax department investigation into Young Indian Pvt Ltd on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.

On Monday, Gandhi was questioned about his role in day-to-day functioning of YI, in which he and his mother are the majority stakeholders, the acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) by YI, a loan of ₹90.21 crore given by All India Congress Committee (AICC) to AJL, and its subsequent assignment to YI, and transactions related to the development of a property in Mumbai, the officials cited above said.

The probe so far revealed that YI is not a charitable organisation as claimed by the party and Gandhi, an official said on condition of anonymity.

The party has repeatedly claimed that YI is a non-profit organisation and that its shareholders could not make any money from the assets of the company.

However, as also reflected in the Income Tax department’s probe, even though YI was registered under section 25 of Companies Act, 1956 in November 2010, “it has no business or income of its own and has not carried out any charitable activities,” the official said.

Rahul Gandhi is the first member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to be questioned in the case. Sonia Gandhi has also been summoned for the probe on June 23.

The Congress, meanwhile, held a peaceful stir across the country -- a two-in-one protest, according to party leaders, against the Agnipath army recruitment scheme and the ED’s interrogation of Gandhi.

In Delhi, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, party’s leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, senior leaders Sachin Pilot, Salman Khurshid, Mallikarjun Kharge and K C Venugopal took part in the protest at Jantar Mantar, which saw the participation of over 500 people.

“They’re selling off every asset of the country instead. They’re trying to scare Congress and Rahul Gandhi by misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), ED and the Income Tax department. But it is the BJP and the NDA government who are scared. Everyone is worried and no one knows where this country is headed,” Gehlot said.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, who was also at the site, alleged the Centre was trying to “crush” Gandhi’s voice as he had protested against inflation, unemployment and Rafale corruption case.

The BJP wants to weaken the Congress by trying to defame Rahul Gandhi through the ED, Baghel said, adding that the only objective of BJP is to silence the voice which has become the voice of the oppressed people.

Around 16 workers of Indian Youth Congress were detained at Shivaji Bridge railway station near Connaught Place as they stopped a train during a protest. The track was cleared by police and security personnel and train movement resumed after about half an hour, a senior police official said.