New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi, who had requested more time and got, has been issued a fresh summons by the Enforcement Directorate or the ED to appear before it on July 21 in the alleged money laundering case connected to the National Herald newspaper.

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

She was released from the hospital in the middle of June and had asked for more time to appear before the agency. The Congress president was first issued the notice for an appearance on June 8 but after she reported positive for Covid, the summons for June 23 were issued.

Mrs. Gandhi's son, Rahul Gandhi, underwent a series of questioning, spanning 10-12 hours over five days, by the central probe agency in the same case.

Asked how he handled the marathon questioning sessions with the agency officers, Mr. Gandhi, in a lighter vein, said "told them I do Vipassana".

"The Government of India...the Prime Minister thinks that by making me sit in the ED (office) for five days, I will change my behaviour. This is a confusion in the mind of the Prime Minister," a defiant Rahul Gandhi said during a visit to his parliamentary constituency, Wayanad, last week.

The agency, which probes financial crimes, is investigating the Gandhis' role in what is known as the National Herald case. It involves the Young Indian's takeover of AJL (Associated Journals Limited), the company that ran the National Herald newspaper, a Congress mouthpiece that has since transformed into an online-only outlet. National Herald is published by the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and owned by YIL.

From shareholding pattern to transfer of AJL assets into YIL and various other unanswered questions linked are yet to be unearthed by the ED in the case.

The ED is also investigating the financial transactions as well as the role of party functionaries in the functioning of AJL and YIL. The case to investigate alleged financial irregularities under the PMLA was registered about nine months ago after a trial court took cognizance of an Income Tax Department probe carried out based on a private criminal complaint filed by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.

Swamy had approached the court alleging that the assets of AJL were fraudulently acquired and transferred to YIL, in which Sonia Gandhi and her son owned 38 percent shares each.

Earlier, the agency questioned senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal as part of the investigation.