Congress MPs Manickam Tagore and Kodikkunnil Suresh have submitted adjournment notices in the Lok Sabha, demanding a discussion over the “misuse” and “weaponisation” of central agencies by the Union government in light of the recent searches at the offices of National Herald by the Enforcement Directorate.
“The raids conducted in the National Herald office in Delhi by Enforcement Directorate is yet another instance of the vengeful politicization of Central agencies by the BJP- led NDA government in its attempt to throttle dissent and opposition voices by acting upon fake and trumped up charges,’ Suresh MP wrote.
Days after questioning Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the ED on Tuesday raided the head office of the Congress-owned National Herald newspaper in the national capital and 11 other locations as parts of its money-laundering investigation.
The Opposition party condemned it as “vendetta politics”, while the BJP said the law would take its own course.
The searches are being carried out under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to “gather additional evidence with regard to the trail of funds and they are against those entities who were involved in the National Herald-linked transactions”, officials said. They also said that the action was being undertaken in light of fresh evidence obtained by the ED after the questioning of various people.
