Affidavit on Robert Vadra-DLF land deal not a clean chit: Haryana minister Anil Vij

GURGAON: The state government's affidavit this week before the Punjab & Haryana high court that stated no violations had been found in a 2012 land deal between Robert Vadra's Skylight Hospitality and real estate major DLF, which raised a political storm before the 2014 general elections in which BJP swept to office, is not a clean chit, senior government and police functionaries insisted on Friday.
They argued that the comment in the affidavit was limited to transactional aspects of the deal like payment on stamp duty and not the process that led to the inflated pricing of the land that Vadra's company sold.
Haryana home minister Anil Vij said on Friday reports describing the affidavit as a clean chit were misplaced and emphasised that the government had also communicated that a further investigation under a reconstituted SIT formed just last month was under way.
"The committee that was formed to investigate the matter has not produced any such report that gives a clean chit to all those who are accused in the case. The investigation is ongoing," Vij, who was in the city for a meeting on law and order, said.
The affidavit submitted by the state government to the court on April 19 was based on the Manesar tehsildar's report, which did not find any violation of rules in the transfer of 3.5 acres of land by Skylight Hospitality to DLF in September 2012. The affidavit itself wasn't on this land deal but pertained to pending cases against MPs and MLAs.
The FIR was filed at Kherki Daula police station on September 1, 2018 against Vadra, former CM and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, DLF and Omkareshwar Properties under sections 120B (conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467, 468 and 471 (forgery) of the IPC and Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act on the basis of a complaint filed by Surendra Sharma, a resident of Nuh who describes himself as a social activist. Sharma alleged irregularities in the transfer of land. Subsequently, an SIT was set up. In 2022, some members of the SIT changed. Now, it has been reconstituted again and is led by DCP Virender Vij, two ACPs, an inspector, ASI and an official each from the town and country planning department and Haryana-Rera. The previous SIT, formed last year, was headed by an ACP-rank officer.
A Haryana Police spokesperson said on Friday the affidavit in court had been "misconstrued as a clean chit". "The report of the Manesar tehsildar has been misconstrued. A new SIT was reconstituted last month to give fresh impetus to the investigation," the spokesperson said. Police said the SIT is gathering relevant documents and examining a number of individuals connected with the case and officials from departments specialising in real estate had been inducted for their insights.
The case dates back to 2008, when Vadra's company bought the 3.5 acre land at Shikohpur in Manesar for Rs 7.5 crore from Onkareshwar Properties. Soon after, it was given permission by the then Hooda government to develop a housing project, which pushed up the land's price. This land was sold to DLF in 2012 for Rs 58 crore, almost eight times the cost at which it was bought.
The mutation was later that year set aside by IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who was at the time the director general of Consolidation of Land Holdings and Land Records as well as the inspector general of registration. BJP latched on to the issue in its poll campaign, using it as a pitch against the Congress government. On the back of its success in the general elections under Narendra Modi, the saffron party formed a government for the first time in Haryana later that year after a big victory in the assembly polls.
Vadra, husband of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Hooda and Congress have previously called the case politically motivated and denied any wrongdoing. Vadra also reacted to the latest affidavit on Facebook and said he was "happy to see a ray of hope" after the government's report acknowledged no rules were flouted in the land deal.
AICC secretary Ashish Dua told TOI on Friday that the government's affidavit has vindicated the Congress stand. "None of the cases, be it 2G, CWG or this land deal, have stood their ground. This was a politically motivated case and the charges that were levelled by BJP have not been established. We will now take this message to the grassroots and expose the lies of BJP," he said.
Jawahar Singh Yadav, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar's officer on special duty said, "The affidavit only mentions that stamp duty was paid. But that is not all that this case is all about. It is about land being bought for Rs 7.5 crore and later being sold for Rs 58 crore. It is also about the process of cancelling land rights granted to Robert Vadra's firm. The verdict will come from the court based on the SIT's report. Until then, all the accused are suspects. There's nothing political about this issue."