Humanitarian approach during Sonia Gandhi's questioning, she will be called again on July 25: ED sources

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)