Delhi traffic police issues advisory amid Sonia Gandhi’s ED appearance

|HT|

Delhi traffic police on Wednesday night issued an advisory asking commuters to avoid certain routes in Lutyens Delhi due to special arrangements on Thursday in view of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s questioning by Enforcement Directorate. “Kindly avoid Motilal Nehru Marg, Akbar Road, Janpath & Man Singh Road between 0900 hrs & 1400 hrs on 21.07.22. Due to special arrangements, traffic movement will not be possible on these roads (sic)” they said in a tweet. Police further added that inwards movement of buses will be restricted in New Delhi beyond Gol Dak Khana Junction, Patel Chowk, Windsor Place, Teen Murti Chowk, Prithviraj Road. Commuters were also asked to avoid Gol Methi junction, Tughlak Road Junction, Claridges Junction, Q-point Junction, Sunehri Masjid Junction, Maulana Azad Road Junction & Man Singh Road Junction between 9am and 2pm.

Congress had staged massive protests when former chief Rahul Gandhi was questioned by ED. Sonia Gandhi was issued a fresh summon after she could not join the ED investigation in the case due to Covid-19.

The Congress leader had developed a mild fever on June 1 evening and was found COVID-19 positive upon testing the next morning.

The ED had on June 1 summoned Sonia Gandhi to appear before its investigators on June 8 in the case for the first time in connection with a money laundering case involving the National Herald.

The ED wants to record both Sonia Gandhi’s statements under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED last month questioned Rahul Gandhi on several occasions in the case.

The case to investigate alleged financial irregularities under the PMLA was registered about nine months ago after a trial court took cognisance of an Income Tax Department probe carried out on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP in 2013. The petitioner had approached the court alleging that the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published the National Herald newspaper, were fraudulently acquired and transferred to Young Indian Pvt Limited (YIL), in which Sonia Gandhi and her son owned 38 per cent shares each.

The YIL promoters include Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Swamy had alleged that the Gandhis cheated and misappropriated funds, with YIL paying only ₹50 lakh to obtain the right to recover ₹90.25 crore that AJL owed to the Congress.

Congress argued that YIL was a not-for-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 that can neither accumulate profits nor pay dividends to its shareholders.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)