Cong promoted National Herald faces ED heat

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has attached immovable assets and equity shares worth about Rs 752 crore as part of its ongoing money laundering investigation against the Congresspromoted National Herald newspaper and companies linked to it.

The immovable assets that have been attached include the National Herald's office premises at ITO in Delhi, the Nehru Bhawan at Mall Avenue near Kaiserbagh in Lucknow and the Herald House in Mumbai, sources said.

The Congress called the agency action as "petty vendetta tactics" and dubbed the ED a "coalition partner" of the BJP which, it claimed, is staring at a certain defeat in the assembly polls in five states.

The federal probe agency alleged in a statement that in this case the shareholders and donors of the Congress were "cheated" by the office-bearers of AJL and the party.

The National Herald is published by AJL and owned by Young Indian Private Limited. Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders of Young Indian.

"Investigation revealed that Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL) is in possession of proceeds of crime in the form of immovable properties spread across many cities of India," the agency claimed.