Sonia Gandhi discharged from hospital, faces ED questioning in money-laundering case
The Congress chief had been admitted to the Ganga Ram Hospital on June 12, days after she tested positive for the coronavirus disease.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi was discharged from Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi on Monday evening after undergoing treatment for a fungal infection in her respiratory tract.
Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said the doctors have advised Gandhi to rest at home.
Gandhi had been admitted to the hospital on June 12 due to Covid-19-related complications. Doctors treated her for nasal bleeding. She had tested positive for the coronavirus disease on June 2.
After undergoing a follow-up procedure for nasal bleeding, a fungal infection was detected in her respiratory tract, the Congress had said on June 17.
The 75-year-old leader is scheduled to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday for questioning in a money-laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper.
On June 1, the Enforcement Directorate had issued summons to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on June 8.
But the Congress chief had sought more time to appear before the agency, saying she is recuperating from Covid-19. On June 11, the Enforcement Directorate issued fresh summons to Gandhi and asked her to appear before it on June 23.
Rahul Gandhi has already been questioned for over 30 hours in three days last week. He again appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for the fourth day of questioning on Monday.
The case against Gandhis
The National Herald is published by Associated Journals Limited and owned by Young Indian Private Limited. It was founded and edited by Jawaharlal Nehru before he became India’s first prime minister.
In April 2008, the paper suspended operations as it had incurred a debt of over Rs 90 crore. Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy has accused Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of setting up the Young Indian Private Limited firm to buy the debt using the funds from the Congress.
In his complaint before a trial court, Swamy accused the Gandhis and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate the funds. He has alleged that the Young Indian firm paid only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that the Associate Journals Limited owed to the Congress.
The party had loaned the amount to Associated Journals Limited on an interest-free basis, according to court records. The Congress has claimed that there was no money exchange and only conversion of debt into equity took place to pay off dues like salaries.