New Delhi:
In fresh trouble for Robert Vadra, son-in-law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out searches at premises connected to Vadra in an ongoing probe into the 2012 land deal at Kolayat near Bikaner, Rajasthan.
Persons familiar with the development said ED officials had reached Vadra’s office in south Delhi’s Sukhdev Vihar at 11am. Searches were also being carried out across premises belonging to Vadra’s close aides in Bengaluru.
The agency cracked down on Vadra after issuing summons to him for the third time on Friday, asking him to appear before the agency. Vadra had ignored the previous two summonses.
In September 2015, the ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) alleging the Vadra-owned Sky Light Hospitality had bought a piece of land in Kolayat, Bikaner, on the cheap and sold it at an extremely high premium through illegal transactions.
According to ED officials who requested anonymity Skylight Hospitality purchased 69.55 hectares of land for Rs 72 lakh and then sold it to Allegeny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore, earning a profit of Rs 4.43 crore.
While Vadra has termed the agency’s repeated summons a witch hunt, the Congress party labeled it a tactic of the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to divert attention from the ongoing polls.
“Sure shot defeat in 5 States unnerves Modi Govt to again use the old tools - unleash revenge & vendetta against Mr. Robert Vadra to divert the narrative. Such cowardice & intimidation will not subjugate either the Congress Party or the will of people,” Congress party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter.