Congress president Sonia Gandhi appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for a third round of questioning in the National Herald-Associated Journals Limited case. Sonia was accompanied by her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at the ED office. Congress MPs have undertaken a march from the Parliament towards Rashtrapati Bhawan in the national capital against the misuse of ED by the Centre.

The police have stopped the Congress MPs and they have sat on dharna in the Vijay Chowk area. The police have imposed Section 144 in the area near Rashtrapati Bhawan. "When MPs raise important issues in Parliament, they're suspended. During protests, our members are detained and taken to police lines. If MPs belong at police lines, then why is a new Parliament being constructed here?" asks Congress MP Deepender Hooda.

#WATCH | Congress MPs protest march from Parliament to Vijay Chowk as Sonia Gandhi appears before Enforcement Directorate for the third day of questioning#Delhi pic.twitter.com/sCapqHsotB

— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2022

Meanwhile, Congress workers tried to stop a train at Mumbai's Borivali railway station. ED officials quizzed Gandhi for six hours on Tuesday as Congress leaders and workers staged 'satyagraha' in several parts of the country to protest against the alleged misuse of central agencies.

#WATCH Congress workers try to stop a train at Mumbai's Borivali railway station in protest against ED questioning of party's interim president Sonia Gandhi in National Herald case

Some people came to stop the train but they didn't succeed, they've been detained: CPRO W.Railway pic.twitter.com/YPjTAAVENP

— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2022

On the other hand, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and several party MPs were detained by police on Tuesday at Vijay Chowk in the national capital . "India is a police state, Modi is a king," said Rahul, who sat on the road before being put in a police bus.

Sonia was questioned for over two hours on July 21 during which she replied to 28 questions put forth by the agency. She had reiterated the Congress party stand that the Young Indian was a "not for profit" company and no personal benefits were gained by them.

The agency will also corroborate her statement with that of Rahul as both put together are majority stakeholders in Young Indian, officials said. The questioning of the Gandhis pertains to the charge of alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian, which owns the National Herald newspaper.

The move to question the Gandhis was initiated after the ED in late 2021 registered a fresh case under criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). This was after a trial court took cognisance of an Income Tax department probe against Young Indian based on a private criminal complaint by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.

Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are among the promoters and majority shareholders in Young Indian. Like her son, the Congress president too has 38 percent shareholding. Swamy had accused the Gandhis and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds, with Young Indian paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that Associate Journals Limited owed to the Congress.

According to the ED, assets worth about Rs 800 crore are "owned" by the AJL and the agency wants to know from the Gandhis how a not-for-profit company like Young Indian was undertaking commercial activities of renting out its land and building assets.

With inputs from PTI

First Published:Jul 27, 2022 10:24 AM IST