Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi is set to face another day of lengthy and rigorous questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday in a money laundering case linked to the National herald newspaper.

The Congress leader reached the ED office for the second day of questioning. He was earlier at the Congress party office along with sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra amid supportive sloganeering by party workers.

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Several senior leaders, including KC Venugopal who was manhandled by the police yesterday, had also accompanied Gandhi at the party office.

The former Congress leader arrived at the ED headquarters on APJ Abdul Kalam Road in central Delhi with his “Z+” category CRPF security escort even as police personnel were deployed in huge numbers and section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was imposed around the agency’s office just like Monday.

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Several top Congress leaders like Harish Rawat and Randeep Singh Surjewala were detained from outside the Congress office as they tried marching to the ED’s office.

Visuals show some of them being dragged on the road by the police. Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in large numbers around the party’s main Delhi office. Several barricades have been placed to prevent movement towards the grand old party’s Akbar road office. 

Also read: Why India’s Enforcement Directorate stays mired in political controversy?

Section 144, which prohibits assembly of people in large groups, was invoked around the party office area as well. Congress legislators claim they were going to the party office in separate vehicles, which does not violate the rules, but were anyway stopped and detained. 

Earlier in the day, several Congress party workers were seen in physical altercations with the police and security forces as they were stopped from entering the cordoned off area. Several party workers and even a few MPs were detained as they tried to reach the party office. 

Also read: Rahul Gandhi to appear before ED today: All you need to know

The Congress has alleged that the questioning is part of the ruling  BJP’s “vendetta politics”. Responding to the protests, Union Minister Smriti Irani had said the party was trying to pressurise the probe agency and the protests were not to save democracy but to save Rahul Gandhi’s properties worth Rs 2,000 crore.