Mumbai: NCP supporters protest outside ED office over summons to Jayant Patil

Hundreds of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) staged a protest outside the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) office in south Mumbai against summons issued by it to state party president Jayant Patil in a money laundering case. The protesters claimed the Centre and the ED were indulging in political vendetta.

Patil appeared before the ED here on Monday in a money laundering case linked to alleged financial irregularities in the now bankrupt financial services firm IL&FS, an official said. The agency's office is located close to the NCP's office at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai.

The protesters, wearing Gandhi caps and holding placards and banners, also carried a large size cut-out of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. They shouted slogans against the Union government and the ED, accusing them of indulging in political vendetta.

Earlier Patil said, I am part of the opposition and one needs to face such type of suffering. I never heard the name of the IL&FS in the past, but the ED officials have summoned me to appear before them. I will try to address their queries in the legal framework.