CONGRESS LEADER Rahul Gandhi’s close aide Alankar Sawai was on Friday questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its money laundering probe into financial affairs of TMC leader and RTI activist Saket Gokhale.
Sources said Sawai was questioned by the agency on Wednesday and Thursday as well.
Sawai is being questioned on claims made by Gokhale in his statement to the ED that he received Rs 23.54 lakh from Sawai on behalf of the Congress to manage the party’s social media presence.
Sources in the agency said that Sawai has hitherto denied making any such payment to Gokhale. “We are now confronting him with Gokhale to find out the truth,” an ED officer said. An agency source said there is no material evidence as yet, apart from Gokhale’s claims.
As reported by The Indian Express on January 26, while taking Gokhale’s custody in Gujarat a day earlier, the ED had told court that examination of his accounts had shown that he had received Rs 80 lakh through crowdfunding using an online platform and Rs 23.54 lakh in cash. On being questioned about the cash deposits, Gokhale revealed this was paid by Sawai for “social media work and other consulting”.
The ED, however, has doubted Gokhale’s claims. It has said the money was deposited in Gokhale’s account in November 2021 while he had joined the TMC in August 2021. Also, the ED has claimed, Gokhale failed to produce any documentary evidence of the money having been received from the Congress as he claimed that his agreement to provide social media services to the Congress were “verbal”.
The ED is probing Gokhale for spending over Rs 1 crore collected through crowdfunding to support his public interest work on personal needs. It told a court in Ahmedabad that Gokhale spent the money on wining and dining, intra-day trading in the stock market and for treatment of his family members.
