National Herald case: Congress MP detained amid protests against questioning

Rahul Gandhi is the leader of India's main opposition party

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.

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 was the third time Mrs Gandhi was questioned in connection with the case.

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.

Sonia Gandhi is being questioned in connection with a corruption case

In June, Rahul Gandhi was questioned for around 50 hours over five days by the ED in the same case. Mrs Gandhi was initially called for questioning at the same time, but her summons had to be deferred after she tested positive for Covid-19.

The 75-year-old leader was admitted to hospital and was discharged later in June.

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.

• What is the National Herald case about?

The National Herald newspaper was started in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister and Rahul Gandhi's great grandfather.

The newspaper was published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) which was founded in 1937 with 5,000 other freedom fighters as its shareholders.

In 1947, when India won independence, Nehru resigned as chairman of the board of the newspaper after taking over his role as PM.

Rahul Gandhi was questioned in the National Herald case in June

But the Congress party continued to play a huge role in shaping the newspaper's ideology. Some of India's best-known journalists have worked at the daily, which continued to be funded by the Congress party.

The newspaper ceased operations in 2008 for financial reasons. In 2016, it was relaunched as a digital publication and is now widely seen as a Congress mouthpiece.

Mr Swamy has alleged that the Gandhis used Congress party funds and took over AJL to try to acquire real estate assets in several cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, which are worth more than 20bn rupees ($250 million; £208 million).

The party has denied this, describing it as "a strange case of alleged money laundering without any money".