Sonia Gandhi summoned again on July 25; Tharoor, Kharge among 75 Cong MPs detained: 10 points

Congress president Sonia Gandhi left the Enforcement Directorate office after two hours of questioning on Thursday. Meanwhile, police detained scores of senior Congress MPs during their protest against the ED interrogation.

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has again summoned Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on July 25 after questioning her for three hours in connection with the National Herald case on Thursday. The ED on Thursday recorded her statement in the case and ended the session for the day on her request as she is recovering from Covid, officials said.

Gandhi, 75, arrived at the ED headquarters located at Vidyut Lane flanking A P J Abdul Kalam Road in central Delhi a little after noon escorted by her Z+ category CRPF security cover. The questioning began around 12:30 pm after completion of some formalities like verification of summons and signature in the attendance sheet, sources said.

She was allowed to leave on her request made on medical grounds, sources said. The probe relates to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the National Herald newspaper. Meanwhile, Congress leaders and workers protested in the national capital and in some other states over the ED's "harassment" of the party leader.

Here are the top 10 updates as the protests in the national capital and some other parts of the country escalated:

1. As many as 75 Congress MPs including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and several workers were detained by the Delhi Police on Thursday for holding demonstrations against the questioning of Sonia Gandhi by ED.
2. Senior Congress leaders including P Chidambaram, Ajay Maken, Manickam Tagore, KC Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chaudhry, Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot, Harish Rawat. Ashok Gehlot, K Suresh and others are detained. When Congress MPs left from Parliament to Congress headquarters, around 75 MPs were taken by Delhi Police in buses.
3. Congress workers in Nagpur were also detained in the wake of the protest. "All Congress MPs and CWC Members have courted mass arrest outside our Party HQs in a show of collective solidarity with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, a target of Vishguru's political vendetta. We are being taken away to a police station in Old Delhi evidently," said party leader Jairam Ramesh.
4. Protesting Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that the ruling party (BJP) is showing its highhandedness by misusing the probe agencies by asking them to target opposition leaders. "They (ruling party) want to show how powerful they are. We've raised the issue of inflation in Parliament but they're not ready for discussion. We are now raising the issue of misuse of central probe agencies," Kharge.
5. Congress MP Deepender S Hooda said that they are protesting peacefully. "We are protesting peacefully. They cannot suppress our voice," said Hooda. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who is also in Delhi slammed the probe and said that since Sonia Gandhi is over 70 years old, ED should have gone to her house for investigation.
6. "The kind of personality and aura she (Sonia Gandhi) has and since she is more than 70 years old, ED should have gone to her house for investigation. I want to meet the chief of ED and CBI and tell them what people are thinking about central agencies," said Gehlot.
7. After Gehlot was detained he said, "It is happening for the first time in the country that they are stopping dharna demonstration." "There is misuse of agencies in the country... it's our right to protest in a democracy, but it is also being crushed upon...," said Sachin Pilot.
8. The ED had on June 1 summoned Sonia Gandhi to appear before its investigators on June 8 in the case for the first time in connection with a money laundering case involving the National Herald. The ED wants to record both Sonia Gandhi's statements under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Last month the ED had questioned Rahul Gandhi on several occasions in the case.
9. The National Herald Case has been in the limelight for the past few months as the Enforcement Directorate has been investigating the role of the Gandhis in it.
10. The case involves the takeover of AJL (Associated Journals Limited) -- the company that ran the National Herald newspaper -- by Young Indians. The newspaper was founded by the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and was a Congress mouthpiece that later went entirely online.