Congress summons DCP Rakesh Asthana amid ED probe in National Herald case

Amid the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into the National Herald case, the Congress party on Wednesday exempted Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana from the meeting called by senior leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Congress leader and chairperson of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had issued summons to Delhi's top cop and asked him to appear before the Parliament at 10.30 am today.

"CP (Rakesh Asthana) wrote to me last night that Delhi's law and order situation isn't good. So he should be granted an exemption. I spoke with my officer. As per rules, if an officer doesn't come, he has to explain the reason. He did. So, I said let's call him later," AR Chowdhury told ANI.

"There were some observations against Delhi Police by CAG. So, I thought that there is a need to speak with concerned officials and further clarify this before their examination. This is as per rules," he added.

Notably, this came after Chowdhury, along with several other senior Congress leaders, was detained by Delhi police while protesting against the summons issued to Rahul Gandhi by ED in the National Herald case.

Rahul Gandhi rejoined Enforcement Directorate's ongoing investigation in connection with an alleged money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper for the third consecutive day today.

He has been questioned for over 20 hours since Monday when he was deposed before the ED investigators in the case for the first time.

As per official sources, the Congress leader, a Z+ category protectee of the Central Reserve Police Force after the Union government withdrew the Gandhi family's Special Protection Group cover in 2019, has been confronted with several documents collated by the ED as evidence recovered so far in the case to get his version.

Rahul Gandhi has been questioned in detail about the ownership of Young Indian Private Limited (YIL) by the Gandhi family and its shareholding pattern in Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the company that runs the National Herald newspaper, said sources.

( With inputs from ANI )