Week before date with ED, Rahul Gandhi back in Delhi

As per sources, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi returned to Delhi after his travels on Friday night. This comes a week before he is to appear before the ED in connection with a money laundering case.

The Enforcement Directorate issued fresh summons to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper on Friday. He is to appear before the agency on June 13.

The ED had earlier asked him to depose on June 2 but he sought a fresh date as he was out of the country. Now, however, a week in advance of the date he has been summoned, Rahul Gandhi is back in Delhi. As per sources, he returned to the national capital after his travels on Friday night.

His mother Sonia Gandhi has also been asked to depose before the ED on June 8. Though she tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week, the Congress party has said she is determined to appear before the agency on the scheduled date.

Meanwhile, members of the Congress Bharat Jodo Yatra committee will meet at the party headquarters on Sunday, as per sources. Last month, at its Chintan Shivir in Udaipur, the party had announced it would be undertaking the 3,500-km yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.

The National Herald matter came to the fore when former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy filed a case in the Delhi High Court accusing Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of land grabbing and misappropriating funds worth thousands of crores of Rupees.

He alleged that the Gandhis had acquired a public limited company — AJL — through a privately held firm — Young India Limited — of which Rahul Gandhi was the director.

Many shareholders of the AJL, including former law minister Shanti Bhushan and former chief justice of Allahabad and Madras High Courts Markandey Katju, said they were not served any notice when YIL acquired control over it. They said that the shares held by their fathers were transferred to AJL in 2010 without their consent.