The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday resumed its searches at the office of Young Indian (YI), the holding company of the National Herald newspaper owned by the Congress party, after senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge presented himself before agency officials at the Herald House here.
Kharge, 80, who is Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, reached the Herald House building at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg at 12.40 pm and met ED officials on the summons of the agency. The ED sought his presence during the raids at YI since he was the principal officer of the firm.
The agency officials questioned Kharge for several hours during the day. The ED had also questioned him and senior Congress leader PK Bansal in connection with the case in April.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are among the promoters and majority shareholders in Young Indian. Both hold 38 per cent shareholding in the not-for-profit company.
The agency had put a temporary seal at the single-room office of the YI, located on the ground floor of the four-storey Herald House building, to “preserve evidence” as it could not search it during the last two days because it was locked and authorised representatives were not available.
The office of the National Herald newspaper and its web portal, where the editorial staff and administrative staff works, is located on the fourth floor of the Herald House building.
The National Herald newspaper is published by Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) and its holding company is Young Indian. The newspaper office is registered in the name of AJL.
On Tuesday, the ED had launched searches at a dozen locations, including at the Herald House, as part of its ongoing money laundering probe in the National Herald-AJL-Young Indian deal.
Agency officials had left the premises in the early hours of Wednesday after they collected some documents, digital data and questioned some staffers.