New Delhi : Congress’s trouble in the National Herald case is constantly increasing. On Thursday, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge appeared before ED officials at the Herald House itself. With this, the ED has again started raids in the office of Young Indian (YI), the holding company of Congress-owned newspaper National Herald.
80-year-old Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, reached Herald Bhawan, situated on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg near ITO at around 12.40 pm and met ED officials. Being a key officer of the company, the ED had sought his presence during the raids at the office of Young Indian. The names of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are also included in the shareholders of Young Indian. The Congress President holds 38 per cent stake in the company.
A part of the Herald House was sealed
Earlier on Wednesday, the ED had sealed a part of the four-storey Herald House. The ED had said to preserve the evidence behind the sealing. The ED said that due to the lock on the part, it could not search it, as well as no authorized representative was available during the search. ED officials say that the search of the Young India office will now be stopped and whatever possible evidence is available will be collected.
National Herald’s office is located on the fourth floor
The National Herald newspaper and web portal office is located on the fourth floor of the Herald House building, where the staff of the editorial department and the administrative department work. The National Herald newspaper is published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and its holding company is Young Indian. The office of the newspaper is registered in the name of AJL.
Raids were conducted at many places on Tuesday
The ED on Tuesday raided a dozen places, including the Herald House, as part of its ongoing money laundering probe into the National Herald-AJL-Young Indian deal. Agency officials had left the premises in the early hours of Wednesday after collecting some documents, digital data and questioning some employees. Before appearing before the ED, Kharge had asked a question in the Rajya Sabha whether it was appropriate to summon him in the middle of the ongoing Parliament session. After this, Kharge left for the National Herald building.
