ED Files First Charge Sheet Against Robert Vadra in Haryana Land Deal Case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed a chargesheet against businessman Robert Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in a money laundering case related to alleged irregularities in a land deal at Shikohpur, Haryana. The agency has provisionally attached immovable assets worth over `37 crore linked to him.

The chargesheet has been filed before the Rouse Avenue Court under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and the court is yet to take cognisance of the prosecution complaint. This is the first time any probe agency has filed a prosecution complaint naming Vadra in a criminal case.

According to sources, the central financial probe agency has attached 43 immovable properties worth `37.64 crore belonging to Vadra and his linked entities such as Sky Light Hospitality and others, following a provisional attachment order issued on Wednesday under the PMLA.

A total of 11 entities, including Vadra and his firm Sky Light Hospitality, Satyanand Yajee and Kewal Singh Virk, their company Onkareshwar Properties, and others have been named as accused, sources said.

Vadra has always denied any wrongdoing and has stated that the case is a “political vendetta” against him and his family, which also includes former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

The ED has claimed in the chargesheet that Vadra is accused of money laundering and has sought confiscation of the attached assets. He was questioned by the ED for three consecutive days in April as part of this probe.

The money laundering case arose from an FIR filed by the Gurugram Police in September 2018, which alleged fraudulent purchase of 3.53 acres of land situated in Shikohpur village, Sector 83 (Gurugram), by Vadra through his entity Sky Light Hospitality, from Onkareshwar Properties Pvt Ltd on February 12, 2008, through a “false” declaration at a cost of `7.5 crore.

It was alleged that a commercial licence was also obtained by Vadra for the said land through his “personal influence.”

The land deal was executed during the Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Four years later, in September 2012, Sky Light sold the land to real estate major DLF for `58 crore.

The deal became controversial in October 2012 after IAS officer Ashok Khemka, then posted as director-general of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration, Haryana, cancelled the mutation, categorising the transaction as violative of the State Consolidation Act and certain related procedures.

The ED has also been investigating Vadra in two other money laundering cases — one linked to UK-based arms consultant and fugitive economic offender Sanjay Bhandari, and another related to a land deal in Bikaner, Rajasthan.

On Monday, the ED questioned him in connection with an ongoing money laundering probe linked to two London property deals. The investigation concerns properties at 12 Bryanston Square and Grosvenor Hill Court, 13 Bourdon Street in London, allegedly owned by Sanjay Bhandari. The ED, which has claimed these are benami properties of Vadra, is also probing his alleged links to Bhandari.