Young Indian Office Sealed: The Enforcement Directorate has sealed the office of Young Indian in Delhi in connection with a case related to the National Herald newspaper. The ED has recently deployed police outside the residence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
National Herald Office Sealed
Enforcement Directorate sources said the offices of Young Indian were temporarily sealed as there was no one from their side in whose presence searches could be conducted yesterday and today.
The key officer, senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge has been summoned to complete the search. Sources said whenever the authorized person presents himself for search, the seal will be removed.
Besides temporarily deploying additional police personnel outside Sonia Gandhi’s 10 Janpath Road residence, the police also temporarily barricaded the roads leading to the Congress headquarters.
Congress is holding a meeting of its senior leaders including Salman Khurshid, Mallikarjun Kharge, Pawan Bansal and P Chidambaram. Announcing the party’s “siege”, senior party leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Delhi Police has surrounded our headquarters and houses. Of Congress President and former President.
This is the worst form of vendetta politics. We will not bow down! We will not remain silent! We will continue to raise our voice against the injustice and failures of the Modi government!”
“National Herald was started by Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel…etc to involve the people of India in the freedom struggle. Today the probe agency ED is being misused to malign it and the image of Congress. Not only against us, ED is being used against every opposition party in the country to destabilize governments,” said senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
The Enforcement Directorate yesterday raided the offices of National Herald located at Herald House, Delhi. Raids were also conducted at 11 other places associated with AJL.
The raids came days after Sonia Gandhi was questioned in an alleged money laundering case related to the newspaper. The ED has also questioned Sonia Gandhi’s son and former Congress President Rahul Gandhi for about 50 hours in this case.
After yesterday’s raid, there was strong opposition from the Congress. Calling it “vendetta politics”, Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “The raids at Herald House, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg are a part of an ongoing attack against India’s main opposition – the Indian National Congress”.
YIL acquired Associated Journals Limited, which runs the National Herald. It took over 800 crores in assets of AJL and according to the Income Tax Department, it should be treated as the assets of Young India shareholders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, for which they should pay tax. Congress has claimed that Young Indian is a non-profit, and therefore shareholders cannot make any money from its assets.
The Enforcement Directorate has argued that Young Indian has not done any charitable work and cannot claim profit. Its only transaction was the transfer of AJL’s debt. Congress has contested that newspaper is charity.
