The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked Congress President Sonia Gandhi to depose before it on July 21 for questioning in the money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper.?

Sonia was issued a second summon for June 23 by the ED, but the 75-year-old Congress leader could not keep the date as she was "strictly advised to rest at home following her hospitalisation on account of Covid-19 and a lung infection".

Sonia had sought postponing of the summons by four weeks and hence, she has been asked to depose before the agency on July 21, the officials said.

Sonia was first issued the notice for appearance on June 8 but after she reported positive for Covid-19, the summon for June 23 was issued.

Sonia's son and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has been questioned by ED in the case for over 50 hours in sessions spread across five days.

It was earlier reported that the ED will record Sonia's statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED investigation pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited (YIL), which owns the National Herald newspaper.

While Sonia is yet to appear before the ED, the ED is understood to have asked her son Rahul about the incorporation of the YIL, operations of the National Herald, the loan given by the Congress party to the newspaper's publisher Associated Journals Limited (AJL), and the transfer of funds within the news media establishment.

Earlier, the Congress party accused the Centre of targeting Opposition leaders by misusing investigative agencies and has termed the entire action a political vendetta.

(With PTI inputs)