ED likely to summon Rahul Gandhi for questioning in National Herald case: Report

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will likely summon Rahul Gandhi for questioning in connection with the ongoing investigation into the Congress-run National Herald newspaper, according to a report.

The investigation agency may question the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha to reportedly conclude its probe into the irregularities in running the newspaper. The agency has already attached assets worth ₹751 crore in this case, the report said.

Gandhi, was last questioned by ED in the case in June 2022. His mother Sonia Gandhi was also questioned about her role in the day-to-day functioning of Young Indian Private Limited (YIL). The mother-son duo were questioned about the ownership of YIL by the Gandhi family and its shareholding pattern in Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the company that runs the National Herald newspaper.

“We are looking to conclude the AJL probe and file a prosecution complaint so that case goes to trial. All connected persons, including Rahul Gandhi may be called soon,” Hindustan Times quoted an ED officer as saying in its report on August 12.

On August 2, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the ED was planning to raid him following his ‘Chakravyuh’ speech during the discussion on Budget 2024 in the Parliament. In a post on X, Gandhi said he would, however, wait for the central probe agency with ‘chai and biscuits.’

‘Apparently, 2 in 1 didn’t like my Chakravyuh speech. ED ‘insiders’ tell me a raid is being planned,"Gandhi said in a post on X, perhaps, referring to Home Minister Amit Shah by ’2 in 1.'

Speaking in Lok Sabha on July 29, Gandhi, the Raebareli Member of Parliament, alleged that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government had stabbed the middle class in the front and the back with announcements in Budget 2024 amid an ‘atmosphere of fear’ across the country.

The National Herald, started by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was published by the AJL. In 2010, the AJL, which faced financial difficulties, was taken over by a newly-floated YIL with Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda, both of them Gandhi loyalists, as directors.

There are allegations that AJL was founded in the 1930s to print National Herald and had 5,000 freedom fighters as shareholders. AJL is now in Gandhi's family ownership. AJL declared in 2008 that it would not print newspapers anymore and will enter real estate.

In 2010, a new firm called YIL was incorporated with ₹5 lakh and Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, among other Congress leaders, as directors. It pledged to do charity but, as per allegations, did none until 2016.

The agency, while attaching ₹751 crore worth assets of AJL and YI in November 2023, claimed that a criminal conspiracy was hatched to give control of properties worth “hundreds of crores of rupees” of  AJL to the “beneficial owners” of Young Indian, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.