ED seals National Herald office in Delhi

Herald House. (File Photo: IANS)


A day after raiding National Herald office, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday sealed the premises instructing that the premises are not opened without prior permission from the probe agency.

The ED on Tuesday carried out raids at 12 locations in the national capital and at other places in connection with the National Herald case.

The National Herald case is related to the alleged financial irregularities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in which top Congress leaders are accused of violating norms.

The ED office has been sealed days after the investigative agency questioned Congress interim-president Sonia Gandhi for nearly three hours on July 27 wherein she appeared for three rounds of questioning.

During then, the Congress workers and leaders staged protests in various parts of the country alleging misuse of probe agencies by the government.

Apart from Sonia, Rahul Gandhi was also questioned by the ED for over 27 hours for three days from June 13 to June 15 and was again summoned on June 20 when he was questioned for around 14 hours.

During Sonia’s questioning, the Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareli was asked about the functioning and running of the newspaper, the role of its various office bearers.

Reacting over the same, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “Delhi Police blocking the road to AICC Headquarters has become a norm rather than an exception! Why have they just done so is mysterious.”

At a media briefing, the Congress spokespersons alleged that the sole objective of the probe agency’s action was humiliation and diversion.
They further alleged that AICC headquarter at Akbar Road in Delhi was turned into a police cantonment to stop Congress workers from their scheduled protest against inflation and unemployment on August 5.
“Today we received a letter from DCP that we can not protest on August 5 and AICC was turned into a police cantonment. Government may suppress us as much as they want but we will protest against inflation, unemployment, GST on edible items and go ahead with our schedule even if jailed,” Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken said at the media briefing which was also addressed by party spokespersons–Jairam Ramesh and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.