Telangana Congress leaders protest at Hyderabad ED office for second day

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], June 14 (ANI): Telangana Congress leaders staged a protest for the second at the Enforcement Directorate's office in Hyderabad following the probe agency's questioning of senior party leader Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald newspaper case.
Many people were seen at the protest site with Congress flags raising slogans against the Central Government and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Speaking to ANI, TPCC President Revanth Reddy said, "Today we are protesting at ED office for the second day. Yesterday Rahul Gandhi was called to the ED office and was made to sit there till 11.30 pm. Without FIR or any charges, how can ED make him sit till 11:30 pm? It's totally wrong. If any officer wants to enquire they have to do it during office hours, but here to threaten the Congress party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are playing these tricks. We (Congress) will not tolerate this. Will sit here at Hyderabad ED office till Rahul Gandhi comes out of the ED office in Delhi."
He said that they will protest again tomorrow if Rahul Gandhi is asked to appear before the ED again tomorrow.
"If they call him tomorrow again we will protest here in Hyderabad. We will be here protesting all the days the ED calls him. The people of Telangana are with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi's family. BJP, PM Modi and Amit Shah are conspiring against Congress. We will fight to overcome this. Telangana People are with us and ready to fight in future also," he added.
Faced over 10 hours of questioning a day ago, the Enforcement Directorate started quizzing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in connection with an alleged money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper.
The 51-year-old senior Congress leader reached ED headquarters around 11.07 am along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi and was deposed before the investigators shortly after his entry into the building.
The former Congress president, 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 asked again to join the probe as investigators were not satisfied with the answers he gave to them during questioning on Monday, said official sources.
As per the sources, the Congress leader will be again questioned about the ownership of Young Indian Private Limited (YIL) by the Gandhi family and its shareholding in Associate Journals Limited (AJL), the company that runs the National Herald newspaper. Investigators will also question about the circumstances under which AJL was acquired by YIL in 2010, making it the owner of all assets owned by the National Herald newspaper.
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.
In a complaint in the Delhi High Court, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy accused Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul Gandhi, and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds.
Officials familiar with the probe said Rahul Gandhi is being asked questions about the takeover of the AJL by YIL since the Gandhis have stakes in the latter.
The central anti-money laundering probe agency is expected to confront the Congress leader with the documents about alleged irregularities later in the day. The Lok Sabha member from Wayanad in Kerala is being questioned under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED is also learnt to record the 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.
The ED is also investigating the financial transactions as well as the role of party functionaries in the functioning of AJL and YIL.
National Herald is published by the Associated AJL and owned by YIL.It is also learnt that the ED will take the written statement of Rahul Gandhi statement under Section 50 of the PMLA. (ANI)