Rahul appears before ED amid Cong show of strength; leaders detained

As leaders continued their protest, they were detained from various locations like Congress headquarters and ED office

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the National Herald case but only after a carefully crafted political show, as he walked to the agency's office with top Congress leaders, including his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Chief Ministers and MPs, in tow, many of whom were detained for violating prohibitory orders.

Rahul’s questioning took place for around 11 hours in two sessions and has been asked to depose again on Tuesday. He reached the ED office at 11:10 AM and his questioning started 20 minutes later. He left the ED office for lunch at 2:10 and returned for the second round of questioning at 3:30 PM before having a brief chat with the party chief and his mother Sonia Gandhi, who is admitted to Gangaram Hospital. He left the ED office around 11:30 PM.

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The party sought to make most of the summons to Rahul in the case, which it claimed was a “weird case where no money was involved”, by making it a political spectacle like it did in 2015 when Rahul appeared before a court in the same case.

Congress had announced that Rahul and senior leaders would march to the ED office and in anticipation, police barricaded the localities around the party headquarters on Akbar Road, disallowed vehicular traffic and prevented party workers from reaching the party office to take out the march.

A number of Congress workers who were heading to the Congress headquarters were detained. Some MPs also complained that they had a tough time reaching the Congress headquarters where they had decided to assemble at 9:30 AM.

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Rahul arrived at the Congress headquarters at around 10:30 AM along with Priyanka and within minutes was out walking to the ED office which was barely one kilometre away but police prevented other leaders from proceeding. This is the first time that Rahul is appearing before an investigating agency for questioning in a case.

Raising slogans against the Modi government, leaders and workers started marching towards the ED office but were stopped. Rahul and Priyanka walked almost half of the distance to the ED office, which was around one kilometre away from Congress headquarters, to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He was then persuaded to take a vehicle and then he drove to the ED office along with Priyanka.

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As leaders continued their protest, they were detained from various locations like Congress headquarters and the ED office. Among those detained included Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun, Congress General Secretaries KC Venugopal, Rajya Sabha Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh and Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury among others.

Leaders were taken to various police stations in the city, including in south Delhi’s Fathepur Beri. Priyanka visited Tughlak Road Police Stations where senior leaders like Venugopal, who was manhandled by police, were kept in detention.

The questioning of the senior Congress leaders and the Gandhis was part of the ED's investigation to understand the shareholding pattern, financial transactions and role of the promoters of Young Indian and AJL.

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Congress had sounded the war bugle against the Narendra Modi government over the summons to Rahul and party president Sonia Gandhi, who has now been asked to appear before the ED on June 23, saying it would not be scared.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Baghel said, "this is a dictatorship. Several Congress workers have been detained because they wanted to carry out a peaceful march. This is unprecedented that Congress workers were not allowed to enter the Congress headquarters. If there is no FIR and how can ED summon Rahul.”

Accusing the government of misusing investigating agencies, Kharge said the Modi government was harassing people. Rajasthan Chief Minister Gehlot said injustice is being done and the government is wasting its time on a "false case" when the country is facing price rise, inflation and communal polarisation.

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At a press conference in the morning, Surjwala said the Congress leaders had done nothing wrong. "Godse's descendants are scared of the truth. They will not be able to suppress the truth".

He alleged that Delhi has been put under "undeclared emergency" by a "scared" Narendra Modi government. "Thousands of barricades erected across, Thousands of Congressmen detained since last night. Why is the Modi government scared? They want to suppress the voice of truth. We won't be intimidated," he added.