ED raids National Herald head office
Days after questioning Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday raided the head office of the Congressowned National Herald newspaper at ITO in the national capital and 11 other locations as part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation. The Opposition party condemned it as “vendetta politics”, while the ruling BJP said the law would take its own course.
The searches are being carried out under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to “gather additional evidence with regard to the trail of funds and they are against those entities who were involved in the National Herald-linked transactions”, officials said adding that the action was being undertaken in light of fresh evidence obtained by the ED after the questioning of various people.
Several Congress members held a protest outside Herald House at ITO, and expressing anger, the party workers accused the Narendra Modi government of indulging in “vendetta politics” and using the Central probe agencies for political gains.
The protesters also raised slogans like “Sonia Gandhi zindabad” and “Rahul Gandhi zindabad”.
Terming it a political vendetta, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said: “The raids on Herald House, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, are a part of the continued attack against India’s principal Opposition – the Indian National Congress.”
“We strongly condemn this vendetta politics against those who speak up against the Modi Govt. You cannot silence us!” he said.