ED records Robert Vadra's statement in land deal case; summons again tomorrow

The Enforcement Directorate ED on Tuesday recorded the statement of businessman Robert Vadra for about five hours in a 2008 Haryana land deallinked money laundering case official sources said Vadra is the husband of Wayanad Lok Sabha lawmaker Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the brotherinlaw ofLeader of Opposition Rahul GandhiAccording to PTI Vadra has been asked to depose again on Wednesday for the questioningTerming the agencys move to summon him as political vendetta the 56yearold said he has spent hours with the ED earlier during questioning in separate money laundering cases sharing thousands of pages but still the agency has been raking up cases against himAround 11 am on Tuesday he entered the ED office located on APJ Abdul Kalam Road after walking a twokm stretch from his residence at Sujan Singh Park in the national capital He was accompanied by his lawyer while his security team stayed out PTI reportedSpeaking to reporters on the way to the ED office he alleged This is nothing but political vendetta Whenever I speak for minorities they try to stop me crush us they tried to stop Rahul Gandhi in Parliament too This is misuse of agencies and this is political vendetta adding I will cooperate with them like in the pastSources said the agency recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA for about two hours2008 Haryana land deal Robert Vadra was first summoned on April 8 but sought a fresh dateAfter coming out of the ED office for lunch around 130 pm Vadra told reporters that while he was ready to cooperate with the investigation there needed to be a closureHow can you be talking about something that happened in 2007 he askedAccording to PTI Vadra left the ED office around 630 pmSources informed that he was first summoned in the case on April 8 but he did not depose and sought a fresh dateThe probe against Vadra is linked to a deal in ManesarShikohpur now sector 83 in GurugramIt was done on February 2008 by a company named Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd where Vadra was a director earlier as it purchased a 35 acre in Shikohpur from a firm named Onkareshwar Properties at a price of Rs 75 crore A Congress government led by chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was in power in the state at the time2008 Haryana land deal FIR filed in the case in 2018In September 2012 the company sold this land to realty major DLF for Rs 58 croreHowever a month later controversy erupted after Indian Administrative Service IAS officer Ashok Khemka then posted as the director general of Land Consolidation and Land RecordscumInspectorGeneral of Registration of Haryana cancelled the mutation of this categorising the transaction as violative of state consolidation Act and some related proceduresThe Bharatiya Janata Party BJP which was in the opposition in the state then had called this case an instance of corruption in land deals and that of nepotism hinting at Vadras kinship with the first family of the Congress partyIn 2018 the Haryana Police under the BJP Government had filed a first information report FIR to probe the dealSince then Vadra has been questioned multiple times by the federal probe agency in two different money laundering casesMeanwhile in December 2023 the ED filed a charge sheet against a United Arab Emirates UAEbased businessman CC Thampi who is allegedly linked to Vadra and Sumit Chadha a relative of UKbased arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari The central agency said it was probing the purchase of three plots of land in Haryana during 200506 by Vadra from a real estate agent along with a land deal made by his wife Priyanka2008 Haryana land deal Robert Vadra Priyanka not named in ED charge sheetNeither Vadra nor Priyanka were named as accused in the charge sheetAccording to ED Thampi had purchased about 486 acres between 2005 and 2008 in Amirpur village in Faridabad in Haryana through HL Pahwa a real estate agent based in DelhiNCR National Capital RegionIt is imperative to mention that Robert Vadra also purchased three pieces of land measuring 334 kanals 4008 acres in Amirpur from H L Pahwa from 20052006 and sold the same land to H L Pahwa in December 2010 it said in the charge sheetFurther Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wife of Robert Vadra also purchased agricultural land measuring 40 kanal 05 acres in village Amirpur district Faridabad Haryana from H L Pahwa in April 2006 and sold the same land to H L Pahwa in February 2010 the ED statedIt said that Pahwa was receiving cash out of the books for the purpose of acquisition of landIt was also noticed that Robert Vadra did not pay the entire consideration to Pahwa The investigation in this regard is still ongoing the ED had saidWith PTI inputsatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params