NEW DELHI: The road to AICC headquarters here was blocked on Wednesday with the Congress alleging the party was "under siege" while the police said barricades have been erected and its personnel deputed to avoid any untoward situation.
This came soon after the ED temporarily sealed the premises of Young Indian (YI) in the Congress-owned National Herald office in Delhi as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh shared a video showing heavy police presence outside the AICC headquarters here and the road sealed for traffic.
The barricades were later removed.
"Delhi Police blocking the road to AICC Headquarters has become a norm rather than an exception! Why have they just done so is mysterious," Ramesh tweeted.
"The Congress is under siege. Delhi police has surrounded our HQs, and homes of INC President and ex-President. This is the worst form of vendetta politics. We will not submit! We will not be silenced! We will continue to raise our voice against injustices and failures of Modi Sarkar!," he said in another tweet.
A senior Delhi police officer said, "We have received inputs from our special branch that some protesters might gather at the Congress Office situated on Akbar Road. So, as a preventive measure, we have put barricades and deputed our personnel to avoid any untoward situation."
In a tweet in Hindi, Congress said, "The voice of truth will not be afraid of police guards. Gandhi's followers will fight and win from this darkness."
Sealing the office of the National Herald, bringing the Congress headquarters under police guards show both the "fear and frustration of the dictator", the party said, adding that questions of inflation and unemployment will still be asked.
Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid, while entering the AICC headquarters, told reporters that there is nothing in the case of money laundering investigation as there is "no money involved, so no question of laundering".
"I have come to my party office, if there is any information here I will get it. Everyday party workers, MPs are being stopped. You (media) are also stopped, you must not stop and keep doing your job," he told reporters.
"The party headquarters is central to one's political life and I have come here. We have said very clearly that there is nothing in the case of money laundering investigation as there is no money involved so no question of laundering," Khurshid said.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge also raised the issue in the upper house and alleged that the police have barricaded the residence of the Congress president, former Congres president and the party headquarters.
He was not allowed to raise the issue by the chair, but he said that if he will not raise the issue in the house, where else should he go.
On Tuesday, the ED raided the head office of the National Herald newspaper here and 11 other locations as part of its probe.
The ED had earlier questioned Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi in the case.
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday temporarily sealed the office space of Young Indian (YI) company in the premises of Congress-owned newspaper National Herald in Delhi as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation, official sources said.
The seal was put in order to "preserve the evidence" which could not be collected as authorised representatives of YI were not present during the raids that were launched on Tuesday, they said.
The rest of the National Herald office is open for use, the sources added.
A notice affixed under signature of the ED investigating officer outside the YI office space said it cannot be opened "without prior permission" from the agency.
Officials said the ED team had emailed the summons to the principal officer/in-charge of YI, which is senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, seeking their attendance to open the cabins for it to carry out raids but they have not received any response, so far.
Kharge, the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, had visited the Herald House building on Tuesday evening along with party colleague Pawan Bansal but he left and the search could not be conducted, they said.
As and when the authorised person (for YI) presents themselves for concluding the search, the seal will be lifted, officials said.
The ED had on Tuesday raided a dozen locations, including the National Herald newspaper and web portal office in Herald House at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg near ITO as part of its money laundering probe in the National Herald-AJL-Young Indian deal.
The agency sleuths left the premises in the wee hours of Wednesday after they collected some documents, digital data and questioned some staffers.
The National Herald newspaper is published by Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL) and its holding company is Young Indian. The newspaper office is registered in the name of AJL.
The agency recently carried out the high-profile questioning of Congress president Sonia Gandhi (in July) and her MP son Rahul Gandhi (in June) in this case at its headquarters in Delhi apart from that of Kharge and Bansal in April.
The Congress has said it gave a Rs 90 crore loan to an ailing AJL between 2001-02 and 2010-11 and later, in 2011, the shares of AJL were allotted to Young Indian and this debt was converted into equity and the loan was extinguished in the books of the AJL.
The ED claims these transactions attract anti-money laundering charges as a complex web of transactions and routing of funds were undertaken by the party and its leaders to acquire AJL's assets worth multiple crores of rupees.
The Gandhis are understood to have told the ED during their separate questioning sessions that no personal assets were made in the Congress-AJL-National Herald deal as Young Indian was a "not-for-profit" company established under section 25 of the Companies Act.
They also told the ED that AJL continues to have possession of all its assets and Young Indian neither "owns or controls" these properties.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are among the promoters and majority shareholders in Young Indian.
Like her son, the Congress president too has 38 per cent shareholding.