Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 4: The Enforcement Directorate has questioned and recorded the statement of Alankar Sawai, a close aid of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in a money laundering case in which TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale was recently arrested by the agency in Gujarat, officials said.
“Sawai was questioned and also confronted with accused Gokhale in Ahmedabad over three days earlier this week,” officials said.
ED questioned Rahul Gandhi’s close aide Alankar Sawai for 3 consecutive days in connection with a money laundering case linked to TMC's Saket Gokhale, said ED officials.
ED has asked Sawai about Rs 23.54 lakhs given to Gokhale. He had told the agency that it was given by Sawai.
— ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2023
Former banker Sawai is seen as close to Rahul Gandhi, the former president of the Congress, and is said to be in charge of his research team. The agency summoned Sawai after arresting 35-year-old Saket Gokhale on January 25 while he was in the Gujarat Police’s custody.
Notably, the state police arrested Gokhale from Delhi in December last year in a case of alleged misuse of money he had collected through a crowd funding platform.
The ED alleged that these cash deposits were received by Saket Gokhale when he was a member of the Trinamool Congress (TMC). Sawai has been questioned about these instances, and his statement was recorded under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Official sources said the questioning and confronting of Saket Gokhale and Alankar Sawai has not helped them uncover the fund trail. Gokhale, however, had denied that he misused these funds. The agency possibly will question more people linked in the case.
