The Enforcement Directorate (ED) late on Thursday accepted the request of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to defer his questioning from Friday to Monday (June 20). Rahul had cited his mother and Congress president’s health condition and hospitalisation as the reason for the request.
After three days of grilling in an alleged money-laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper, Rahul was to scheduled to appear before the ED again on Friday.
Rahul on Thursday wrote to the ED and cited his mother Sonia Gandhi’s health as the reason for seeking deferment of the questioning.
After being questioned for eight hours on the third day on Wednesday, Rahul was summoned by the ED again for the fourth time on June 17.Meanwhile, the Congress workers on Thursday staged protests across the country against Rahul’s questioning.
In Delhi, the Congress sought action against the ED officials who “selectively leaked” to some media houses information related to Rahul’s questioning, as the party also served a legal notice on three Union Ministers over the issue.
In the notice to Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, the Congress MP and legal cell head Vivek Tankha has asked them to stop using the ED as a tool to settle political scores, and desist from “spreading false narratives” about the former Congress chief.
The notice comes in the wake of the media reports claiming that Rahul has told the ED that he has no knowledge about the dealings of Young India with Associated Journals, which publishes the National Herald, and that it was done by the late party treasurer Motilal Vora. The notice also calls upon the Ministers to fix responsibility on such officers of the ED who have resorted to such “illegalities”.
“This is a judicial proceeding and selective leaks by the ED to malign Rahul Gandhi’s image is a criminal offence and an attempt to interfere with an ongoing judicial proceeding which is a second crime,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
The notice asks them to ensure the Enforcement Directorate immediately stops spreading “false narratives about Rahul Gandhi for ulterior political motives and as a tool to settle political scores”.
“I also call upon you (the Ministers) to fix responsibility on such officers of the ED who have resorted to such illegalities by causing the leaks,” Tankha said in his notice.
Explaining why he served the legal notice on the Ministers, Tankha said the ED is clearly acting at the “behest of its political masters” and is carrying out political vendetta against Rahul.
“It is appropriate (then) that this letter be addressed to the Finance Minister, the Minister of law and the Home Minister jointly,” he said.
“It is deplorable that the Enforcement Directorate is being used as a tool of political vendetta against Rahul Gandhi, the former president of the Congress, which happens to be the principal Opposition party to the BJP,” the notice said.