National Herald Case: Kharge grilled by ED for around 8 hrs; Congress calls it 'nothing but harassment'

New Delhi, Aug 04: Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was quizzed for around eight hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the national capital in connection with the money laundering case involving the National Herald newspaper. He was summoned by the ED at around 12.40 pm during the Parliament session.

Kharge left the Herald House building at around 8.30 pm.

Sharing the tweet, where Kharge was seen leaving the building, Ramesh said, "This is nothing but harassment."

Earlier, Ramesh said Kharge had been undergoing interrogation by the ED for the last six-and-a-half hours and called it "regretful".

"It has been 6.5 hours and our senior leader and LoP Mallikarjun Kharge, who was summoned by ED in the middle of (Parliament) session, is still with ED. It is regretful; he was supposed to host a dinner at 7.30 pm for Opposition's vice presidential candidate Margaret Alva," Ramesh told news agency ANI.

Earlier in the day, Kharge informed the Rajya Sabha that this is an attempt to intimidate them and they will not be cowed down.

"This House is functioning and I am the leader of the opposition parties. But right now, I have received a summons from the ED to appear before it when a Parliament session is on. Right now, when Parliament is functioning, is it fair on the part of the ED to summon me?" he asked amid shouts of "shame, shame" from the Opposition benches.

Noting that he is a law-abiding citizen and has to leave for the ED office at 12.30 pm, Kharge said, "I do not want to avoid the law and I want to follow the law."

He also said the residences of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi have been gheraoed by police.

"If we carry on like this, will our democracy remain alive? Will we function as per our Constitution? This is being purposely done to demoralise us, destroy us and intimidate us. But we will not be afraid or intimidated and will fight," the senior Congress leader said, demanding that there be a discussion on the issue in the House.