Enforcement Directorate raids associates of Robert Vadra in bribery case

New Delhi: With Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducting searches at premises of people linked to Robert Vadra on Friday, his lawyer alleged that the officials did not show any search warrant and accused the government of unleashing its agencies to harm the reputation of his client.

The ED carried out searches at the premises of three people linked to firms of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, in connection with alleged commissions received by some suspects in defence deals, officials said.

Reacting to the ED action, Vadra’s lawyer Suman Khetan said outside one such premise in Sukhdev Vihar, “They did not show any search warrant, broke the locks and now preventing people from coming out,” Mr Khaitan later said in a statement that premises of his client has been raided in a “brazen affront” to the rule of law and to the Constitution.

“For five years, the present rulers have used every trick in the book to persecute, to hound and to malign my client, MR Vadra. The government has unleashed all its agencies including ED, CBI and Income Tax to victimise him in an utterly mala fide manner and to harm his reputation and,” the statement said.
Mr Khaitan alleged it was part of a “sinister agenda” that the ED officers from Jaipur and Delhi raided the office at Sukhdev Vihar, and also the residence of his associate at Noida.

“The raids have been continuing since morning in an illegal fashion with no employee or law-yer being permitted to enter the premises,” he said. The searches, carried out in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru, were also related to cases of assets held abroad.