Businessman Robert Vadra (56), husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi, was questioned for round six hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday after being summoned in reference to a cash laundering case linked to a land deal in Shikohpur, Haryana. He has been requested to hitch the probe once more on Wednesday morning at 11 am.
Vadra was earlier summoned by the company on April 8 however didn’t seem. A second summons was then issued for Tuesday. “Not too long ago, we obtained some new information throughout our investigation and wish to confront him with these information. As soon as he seems earlier than the ED, the company will document his assertion below the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA),” a supply mentioned.
Hours after receiving the discover on Tuesday morning, Vadra, accompanied by his supporters, walked from his residence at Sujan Singh Park to the ED headquarters on APJ Abdul Kalam Highway — a one-kilometre stretch.
At round 10.45 am, he entered the ED workplace along with his advocate. Vadra informed reporters he was longing for a decision. “No person is evading something. I’m right here at this time… I’m anticipating a conclusion. I’m ready for a conclusion,” he mentioned earlier than heading in.
Criticising the motion as “political vendetta,” Vadra alleged that makes an attempt have been being made to silence him. “After I communicate in favour of the individuals, for the minorities and for the failure of presidency, I’m stopped. That is political vendetta,” he mentioned, including, “Individuals love me and need me to hitch politics… After I specific my willingness to hitch politics, they carry up previous points to carry me down and divert from the true points…”
He additional claimed, “They’re misusing all these businesses… I don’t have to cover something, no matter they may ask, I’ll give solutions to all of the questions.”
At round 1.30 pm, he was allowed to step out for lunch. Chatting with reporters exterior the ED workplace, Vadra mentioned he was keen to cooperate with the investigation however careworn the necessity for closure. “How are you going to be speaking about one thing that occurred in 2007? There’s nothing within the case, it won’t take them 20 years to seek out out one thing, I’ve visited 15 instances, and in addition supplied 23,000 paperwork, now they’re asking once more to supply the identical 23,000 paperwork,” he mentioned.
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He returned round 2.20 pm and went again into the ED headquarters for the second spherical of questioning. He lastly got here out at round 6.10 pm.
In 2018, an FIR was registered towards Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who served because the chief minister of Haryana from 2005 to 2014, in addition to towards Vadra, and actual property corporations DLF and Onkareshwar Properties, for alleged felony conspiracy, dishonest, fraud, forgery, and below provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Hooda, Vadra, and the Congress get together have constantly denied any wrongdoing.
In February 2008, Skylight Hospitality — launched by Vadra in 2007 with a capital of Rs 1 lakh — bought about 3.5 acres of land in Manesar-Shikohpur in Gurgaon from Onkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.5 crore. The plot was mutated in Skylight’s favour the subsequent day, and the title was reportedly transferred to Vadra inside 24 hours of the acquisition — a course of that sometimes takes no less than three months.
A month later, the Haryana authorities, then headed by Hooda, granted Skylight Hospitality permission to develop a housing challenge on many of the land. This led to a pointy improve within the land’s worth. In June 2008, DLF agreed to purchase the plot for Rs 58 crore, which meant that in only a few months, the worth of Vadra’s property had risen by almost 700 per cent. The cost was made in instalments, and it was solely in 2012 that the mutation of the colony licence on the land was transferred to DLF.
