As former Congress President Rahul Gandhi went in for questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, there were tense moments at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters as Delhi police personnel barged into its premises and dragged out workers, including a former Lok Sabha member.
Mr. Gandhi has been summoned again on Friday for further questioning.
Demanding the registration of an FIR for “criminal trespass” and beating up of workers without any provocation, the Congress said the Delhi police were behaving like the BJP’s “private army”. Later, the party filed a complaint at the Tughlaq Road police station.
“This is patently criminal trespass. The goondaism of the Delhi police and the Modi government has reached its zenith,” the party’s chief spokesperson, Randeep Surjewala, told reporters.
“BJP has truly killed Indian democracy. It doesn’t get darker than this,” general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal tweeted.
Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order Zone-II) Sagar Preet Hooda said the police personnel deployed at the AICC office had to enter the party office after the workers started throwing barricades at them.
“The workers were resorting to physical violence only after which the police team was ordered to go inside and detain them,” Mr. Hooda said.
On Thursday, the party plans to gherao the Raj Bhavans in every State to protest against the police action.
A video clip released by the official Twitter handle of the Congress party showed police constables, accompanied by Additional DCP Hemant Tiwari, barging in and dragging out workers including former Lok Sabha MP Kamal Kishore from the party headquarters.
Contesting these claims, the Delhi Police officials said the Congress leaders ignored their suggestions to protest at Jantar Mantar and some workers even disrupted traffic by burning tyres close to the ED office.
