New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday described the ED’s chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case as vendetta politics and claimed seizing of assets in the case was a “state-sponsored crime masquerading as the rule of law”.

Describing the action as “draconian”, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal claimed there was widespread anger among the people of India over such a “blatant abuse of power” and the Congress would give voice to this public outrage through democratic means.

The party will organise nationwide protests on Wednesday in front of Enforcement Directorate (ED) offices at state headquarters and central government offices at the district level, Venugopal said.

The ED has filed a chargesheet against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others on charges of money laundering in the National Herald case.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X, “Filing chargesheets against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and some others is nothing but politics of vendetta and intimidation by the prime minister and the home minister gone completely berserk.” “Seizing the assets of the National Herald is a state-sponsored crime masquerading as the rule of law,” he added.

Ramesh asserted the Congress and its leadership would not be silenced and the truth shall prevail.

Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi called the case “fake” and said the government was exposing itself and its vendetta politics by indulging in such an action.

“As stated years ago when this was initiated, the National Herald case is a one-trick wonder where this government has started a money-laundering investigation without there being any movement of money, any movement of property, any activity which caused a transfer,” he said in a video statement.

A mere not-for-profit company was created to manage the National Herald’s affairs where no dividends can be paid, no commercial transactions take place. The mere creation of that company with Sonia Gandhi and other members of the Gandhi family or the late Motilal Vora has been treated as an act of money laundering, he alleged.

“Now, there is nothing more except a chargesheet filed in a fake and non-existent case. Anyway, this will be contested fully in all aspects. Earlier, all statements had been recorded in this regard by the persons, including former Congress president Sonia Gandhi,” the senior Congress leader said.

“I think the government, by such matters, is only exposing itself and its campaign of political vendetta because there is absolutely nothing in this case in the legal sense,” he added.

Manickam Tagore, another Congress leader, said the chargesheet was a clear case of political vendetta and noted the National Herald as the pride of the Congress.

“Our Leader of Opposition (in the Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi is fighting against this government and the Modi-Shah misrule. Because of that, they are trying to silence him through this false case. We will fight it. To silence him, they want to stop Rahul Gandhi’s fight for OBCs (Other Backward Classes), SCs (Scheduled Castes), STs (Scheduled Tribes) and minorities and all leaders of the Congress will fight with Rahul Gandhi against this,” Tagore said.

Meanwhile, Congress MP Venugopal said the National Herald, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1938, played a vital role in India’s freedom struggle, serving as a powerful voice against British colonial rule.

“It (National Herald) stood for justice, liberty and democratic ideals — values that continue to guide the Indian National Congress to this day,” he said in a statement.

“The so-called action is not a routine legal procedure. It is a state-sponsored crime masquerading as the rule of law — an egregious misuse of state institutions aimed at silencing the democratic opposition,” he added.

Venugopal alleged that the ruling regime had crossed all limits in its pursuit of vendetta politics, weaponising investigative agencies to intimidate and harass the Congress leadership.

“All senior state leaders, MLAs, MPs, office-bearers of frontal organisations, and Congress workers will participate in state-level protests being coordinated by the respective Pradesh Congress Committees. These demonstrations will be a powerful expression of our collective resolve to stand against the politics of fear and oppression,” he said.

Special judge Vishal Gogne examined the chargesheet, which was filed on April 9, on the point of cognisance and posted the matter for further proceedings on April 25.

The chargesheet also names Suman Dubey and Congress leader Sam Pitroda as accused.

It was filed under sections 3 (money laundering) and 4 (punishment for money laundering) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the ED’s special public prosecutor NK Matta.

On Saturday, the ED said it served notices to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore that it had attached as part of a probe linked to the Congress-controlled newspaper and the Associated Journals Limited.

The federal probe agency said in a statement that it had served the relevant documents to the respective registrar of properties where the assets were located.

Simultaneously, the notices were affixed at “conspicuous part of these properties” located at Herald House at ITO in Delhi, in the Bandra (E) area of Mumbai and the Associated Journals Limited building in Lucknow on Friday.

The notices primarily sought vacation of the premises, to be taken over by the ED.

The action has been taken under Section (8) and Rule 5 (1) of the PMLA that talks about the procedure of taking possession of assets attached by the ED and then confirmed by the adjudicating authority.

These immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore, apart from shares of Associated Journals Limited worth Rs 90.2 crore, were attached by the ED in November 2023 to “secure the proceeds of crime and to prevent the accused from dissipating the same”.

The adjudicating authority confirmed the order in April last year. According to the ED, the total “proceeds of crime” in the case was Rs 988 crore. PTI SKC SZM SZM