Highlights
- Congress accused the ruling dispensation of treating party leaders as "terrorists"
- The seal in the office of YI was put in order to "preserve the evidence"
- A notice affixed read that it cannot be opened "without prior permission" from the agency
The Congress held a meeting of all its MPs on Thursday morning to derive the future course of action after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sealed the Herald House. The party has maintained that it will go ahead with its scheduled protest on the issue of inflation and GST on Friday despite being denied permission.
Congress has also accused the ruling dispensation of treating the party leaders as "terrorists". "The entire country is watching as an investigating agency has been deployed mindlessly against the leadership of India's oldest political party. You (the BJP) are treating this party, its leaders and institutions as terrorists," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi has said during a media briefing on Wednesday. "The word - 'fear' is not there in the dictionary of the Congress party," Singhvi has said, adding that the voice of the party's leadership will not be silenced with such "cheap tactics".
The briefing came soon after the ED sealed the office of Young Indian Pvt Ltd located in the Herald House here days after the party's interim President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi were grilled in connection with the National Herald case.
The Congress on Wednesday alleged the party was "under siege" by the government which, it said, surrounded its headquarters and the residences of party chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as if they were "terrorists" and termed this an "undeclared emergency". This came soon after the ED temporarily sealed the premises of Young Indian (YI) in the Congress-owned National Herald office in Delhi.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot claimed the action was to convert 10 Janpath, the Congress headquarters and Sonia Gandhi's residence into a police cantonment and termed this an "undeclared emergency".
Also Read | National Herald case: Cong alleges party 'under siege' after Young Indian office sealed | 10 Points
The seal in the office of YI was put in order to "preserve the evidence" which could not be collected as authorised representatives of the company were not present during the raids that were launched on Tuesday, official sources said. The rest of the National Herald office on the top floor of the four-storey 'Herald House' building and other offices are open for use, the sources added. The passport office is also housed in the 'Herald House' located at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. A notice affixed under the signature of the ED investigating officer outside the YI office space said it cannot be opened "without prior permission" from the agency.
Officials said the ED team had emailed the summons to the principal officer/in-charge of YI, who happens to be senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, seeking their attendance to open the cabins for it to carry out raids but they have not received any response, so far. The ED on Tuesday raided a dozen locations, including the National Herald newspaper and web portal office in Herald House as part of its money laundering probe in the National Herald-AJL-Young Indian deal. The agency sleuths left the premises in the wee hours of Wednesday after they collected some documents, digital data and questioned some staffers. Kharge, the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, had visited the 'Herald House' building on Tuesday evening along with party colleague Pawan Bansal but he left and the search could not be conducted, officials said. As and when the authorised person (for YI) presents themselves for concluding the search, the seal will be removed, they added.
Also Read | National Herald offices raided by Enforcement Directorate; Rahul Gandhi says, 'We won't get afraid'
