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| Before he was detained on Tuesday, Mr Gandhi and other party members sat on a road in Delhi, surrounded by dozens of policemen, protesting against issues ranging from inflation to the alleged targeting of opposition leaders. After about an hour, he and several others were taken in a bus to a detention centre. Rahul Gandhi is the leader of India's main opposition party. (Photo by= Getty Images) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] Members of India's main opposition party have been detained during protests in the capital, Delhi. MP Manish Tewari is among those who were detained on Wednesday. They were protesting Congress party president Sonia Gandhi's questioning by a government agency that investigates financial crimes, BBC reported.
Her son and party leader Rahul Gandhi was detained by the police while participating in the protests on Tuesday. He was later released. Mrs. Gandhi and her son have been accused of misusing party funds to acquire valuable real estate through a convoluted financial deal. The Gandhis deny the allegations. They have accused the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using federal law enforcement agencies for political vendetta.
This is the first time that Mrs. Gandhi is being questioned by a federal law enforcement agency. BJP leaders have denied accusations by Congress party leaders that they are misusing federal institutions to settle political scores. The case against the Gandhis has been brought by Subramanian Swamy, a BJP politician who accuses them of misappropriating party funds to buy a firm that published the now-defunct National Herald newspaper. The National Herald newspaper was started in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister and Rahul Gandhi's great grandfather.
