Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: June 12, 2022 at 17:40 IST
Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader, is set to join the Enforcement Directorate’s probe into the National Herald issue on Monday.
“On June 2, Gandhi was asked to appear before the probe agency. He had asked the ED for some time to join the inquiry because he was abroad,” an official said.
On June 13, the ED sent him a second notice, urging him to join the probe.
The ED issued a fresh summons to Sonia Gandhi on Friday, asking her to join the inquiry in the same case on June 23.
She had been summoned on June 8, but she wrote to the ED to say she had been infected with Covid-19 and hence was unable to join in the pober: Following that, the ED issued a fresh summons to her.
Both have been summoned to the ED’s Delhi headquarters, according to sources.
Several Congress leaders, including the Gandhis, have been charged with misappropriating funds from the National Herald.
The case was initially filed with the Central Bureau of Investigation. The CBI case is the foundation for the ED case.
Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said, “Started the National Herald newspaper in 1942. At that time, the Briten tried to suppress it today Modi government is also doing the same and ED is being used this ED has given notice to our president Sonia Canoniard Rahul Gandhi.”
Subramanian Swamy brought a case against Sonia, Rahul, and the others – Motilal Vora – in 2012. Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey, and Sam Pitroda are accused of cheating and misappropriating cash in the purchase of the now-defunct National Herald.
Until 2008, Jawaharlal Nehru’s National Herald newspaper was closely identified with India’s freedom struggle and the Indian National Congress. The paper’s editorial declared that it was temporarily ceasing operations on April 1, 2008.
The paper was run by Associated Journals Limited prior to its shutdown. Sonia ordered the closure of the defunct paper in 2009.
As part of the inquiry, the CBI recently questioned top Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal.