National Herald case: ED resumes searches at Young Indian office as Congress leader Kharge arrives
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are among the young Indian promoters and majority shareholders. The Congress president, like her son, owns 38 per cent of the company.
FollowThe Enforcement Directorate resumed raids at the office of Young Indian (YI) on Thursday, the holding company of the Congress-owned National Herald, after senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge appeared before agency officials at the Herald House building.
The 80-year-old Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition arrived at the Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg building near ITO around 12:40 pm and met with ED officials on the agency's summons, which sought his attendance during the raids at YI in his capacity as the company's principal officer.
Young Indian promoters and majority shareholders include Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The Congress president owns 38 per cent of the company, similar to her son.
The federal agency had placed a temporary seal on the YI's single-room office on the ground floor of the four-story Herald House building to 'preserve evidence' because it had been unable to search it for the previous two days because it was locked and authorised representatives were not available.
According to officials, the searches at the YI office that had been put on hold will now be completed, and any available evidence will be collected.
The editorial and administrative offices of the National Herald newspaper and web portal are located on the fourth floor of the Herald House building.
The National Herald newspaper is published by Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL), which Young Indian owns. AJL is the name under which the newspaper office is registered.
The ED raided a dozen locations on Tuesday, including the Herald House, as part of its ongoing money laundering investigation into the National Herald-AJL-Young Indian deal.
After collecting documents and digital data and questioning some employees, agency officials left the premises in the early hours of Wednesday.
Apart from Kharge and Pawan Bansal in April, the agency also questioned Congress President Sonia Gandhi (in July) and her MP son Rahul Gandhi (in June), in this case at its headquarters in Delhi.
(With inputs from PTI)
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