Farooq Abdullah's questioning by ED: Centre using probe agencies as weapons against political opponents, says Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the Centre of using investigative agencies as weapons against political opponents and claimed that many leaders, including him, were facing this assault.
Rahul, who is on a 3-day-tour of Kerala, was reacting to the questioning of National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah by the Enforcement Directorate.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday questioned the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister for over six hours in connection with a multi-crore scam in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, prompting accusations of "political vendetta" by the newly-formed People's Alliance comprising several mainstream parties.
"There is a tendency in the current government to use agencies as political weapons. If somebody is not doing what they want politically, across the board, they feel like they can use the CBI and the ED to pressurise them, threaten them," said Rahul Gandhi.
These institutions were designed to give justice to the people and not to be used as political instruments and not the "personal instrument" of the Prime Minister, he said.
"It's not only Mr Farooq Abdulla, many many people are facing this assault. I am personally facing this assault. I have a number of cases against me and there are many leaders who are facing this assault," Rahul said.
However, when asked about the CBI and ED probe into the gold smuggling case in Kerala, the Congress leader, responded saying "justice must prevail".
"The investigation agencies are probing the matter. Lets see where the investigation goes. Justice must prevail," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)