'ED can serve notice to Nehru too': Shiv Sena mocks ED summons to Sonia & Rahul Gandhi

Reacting to the summons issued to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut quipped that the ED might serve a notice to late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru too. Addressing an event in Mumbai on Wednesday, Raut recalled the role of the National Herald newspaper during the freedom struggle. Frowning upon the attempts to target such an organization, he contended that the ED might dig up the past transactions of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. 

Sanjay Raut remarked, "Today I got to know that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have received the ED notice. They started from us and have reached Sonia Gandhi. National Herald was an organization formed by Pandit Nehru. Pandit Nehru established this organization so that there should be a newspaper carrying our views during the freedom struggle and it can be a tool. Attempts are being made to attack even such an organization."

"One day, the ED officers will serve a notice at Pandit Nehru's memorial. A notice might be served to Pandit Nehru too. That is the only thing remaining in this country. Pandit Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, and Vallabhbhai Patel will have to account for their earlier transactions. ED officials will go and serve notice asking them to answer how they built this Parliament, building and the country. We are in such a phase today," he added. 

The National Herald case

A day earlier, the ED asked Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to appear before it in connection with the National Herald case. Both of them are among the promoters and shareholders of Young Indian Pvt. Limited (YI), which owns the National Herald newspaper. The controversy originally broke out in 2013 when BJP's Subramanian Swamy filed a private criminal complaint wherein he accused the Gandhi mother-son duo and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds. He highlighted that YI paid only Rs.50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs.90.25 crore that Associated Journals Limited (AJL) owed to Congress. 

The ED registered a case under PMLA after a trial court in Delhi took cognizance of the Income Tax probe against YI. The I-T Department alleged that the Lok Sabha MP concealed the information that he was the director of YI and one of its largest shareholders while submitting his I-T returns for 2011-12. As AJL had prime properties across India including in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Panchkula and Lucknow, YI became the owner of these assets when it purchased the shares of the former. While the Wayanad MP will skip the summons as he is abroad, Sonia Gandhi is likely to appear before the ED on June 8.