ED agreed Sonia Gandhi’s plea to postpone summons, may announce new date soon: Report

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has granted Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s appeal for a stay of proceedings in the National Herald case. Mrs. Gandhi, who is now recuperating from COVID-19, mentioned health concerns in her written appeal to ED. According to ANI, the agency has yet to decide on a new date to call the top commander in order to proceed with the interrogation.

Jairam Ramesh, the grand old party’s Communications wing in-charge, informed the grand old party’s Communications wing earlier today via Twitter about the letter addressed to ED and revealed that Mrs. Gandhi has been strictly advised to rest at home following her discharge from New Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Monday. She was allegedly discharged from the hospital after two weeks due to a coronavirus infection in her respiratory tract.

‘Since she has been strictly advised to rest at home following her hospitalization due to Covid and lung infection, Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi has written to ED today seeking a few weeks postponement of her appearance there until she has recovered completely,’ Ramesh wrote in a couple of tweets. The ED is now questioning both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi about their potential participation in the National Herald case, which suggests financial irregularities. However, Rahul Gandhi, who has been questioned for 50 hours over five sessions, will not be summoned for additional questioning for the time being.

National Herald case
This dates back to 2013, when BJP MP Subramanium Swamy quietly filed a criminal case against the Gandhis. He accused them of scheming to defraud and misappropriate funds by paying merely Rs 50 lakh for the right to retrieve Rs 90.25 crore owing to Congress through Associate Journals Ltd (AJL). The purpose of the ED inquiry is to learn more about the ownership patterns, financial transactions, and roles of the proprietors of Young Indian Pvt Limited (which owns the National Herald newspaper) and AJL. Notably, the mother-son team is among the promoters and stockholders of Young Indian.