Ramesh Chennithala among Congress leaders detained in Mumbai over protest march to ED office

Mumbai: Senior Congress leader and AICC general secretary Ramesh Chennithala was taken into custody by Maharashtra Police on Thursday for leading a protest march to the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) office here. In addition to the Kerala leader, several Congress leaders, including Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Harshwardhan Sapkal and Members of Parliament, were detained by the Dadar Police.

According to Manorama News, the leaders were taken into custody as they were leaving Tilak Bhavan to join the protest march. They were taken to the Dadar Police Station, where they were questioned about the purpose of their protest and later released.

The Congress leaders organised the protest to condemn the central agency’s actions against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald scam case.

Congress has summoned all its general secretaries, in-charges, and heads of frontal organizations for a meeting on Saturday to decide the way forward in staging protests against what they call the BJP’s vendetta politics targeting the Gandhis.

The Enforcement Directorate filed a chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others before a special court in connection with the National Herald case, accusing them of laundering ₹988 crore.

The prosecution complaint, filed on April 9 under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), named Sonia Gandhi—a former Congress president—as Accused No. 1, and her son, MP Rahul Gandhi, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, as Accused No. 2.

On Wednesday, Congress workers protested outside the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office at 24, Akbar Road, condemning the BJP-led central government following the ED's chargesheet.