National Herald case: ED starts 2nd round questioning of Rahul Gandhi on Day 2
New Delhi, June 14: After more than four hours of questioning in the first round on day-two, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has begun its second round of quizzing with senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday in connection with an alleged money laundering case related to the National Herald case.
The 51-year-old former Congress president this time was accompanied by a lawyer with him when he deposed before the investigators of the federal agency at 4.34 pm after 80 minutes' lunch break.
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The Lok Sabha member from Wayanad in Kerala was questioned till 3.15 pm from 11.07 am when he appeared before the ED headquarters to join the investigation in the case. The ED had also questioned Rahul Gandhi for over 10 hours on Monday.
As per official sources, the Congress leader, a Z category protectee of the Central Reserve Police Force after the Union government withdrew the Gandhi family's Special Protection Group cover in 2019, was confronted with several documents collated by the ED as evidence recovered so far in the case to get his version.
Rahul Gandhi was questioned in detail about the ownership of Young Indian Private Limited (YIL) by the Gandhi family and its shareholding pattern in Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the company that runs the National Herald newspaper, said sources.
The National Herald, started by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was published by the AJL. In 2010, the AJL, which faced financial difficulties, was taken over by a newly-floated YIL with Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda as directors, both of them Gandhi loyalists.
The Congress leader is being questioned under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED is also learnt to have recorded statement of Rahul Gandhi to know about the incorporation of the YIL, the operations of the National Herald and the fund transfer within the news media establishment.
There is another set of allegations that Congress gave AJL Rs 90 crore loan which Congress writes off in lieu of alleged ownership of AJL assets worth Rs 2,000 crore.
Rahul Gandhi, who appeared before the ED for the first time for questioning on Monday, was accompanied by a battery of leaders, including sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and escorted by armed CRPF personnel. He was questioned till around 11.34 pm from 11 am which included an 80-minute break.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has imposed provisions of Section 144 CrPC to prohibit assembly and entry of people on roads leading to the ED headquarters in Pravaratan Bhawan on A P J Abdul Kalam Road where some youth Congress workers protested and scuffled with police while trying to push barricades a few minutes after Rahul Gandhi joined the probe on Tuesday.
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The police detained all the protesters and bundled them in separate buses to take them away from Central Delhi.
-PTC News
