CBI court posts Vadra, Arora's bail plea to March 28

Special CBI court on Tuesday posted the hearing in the anticipatory bail pleas of businessman Robert Vadra and his aide Manoj Arora for March 28, due to unavailability of Vadra's counsel.

The adjournment came in after senior advocate and Vadra's counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi informed the court that he is not available on March 27 when the matter is slated for hearing, and hence prayed for a change of date. Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar posted the matter for further hearing on March 28.

"There is no allegation and there cannot be any allegation of tampering against me. How can there be tampering when all the documents in laptop and pen drive are with the agency and I have no access to the office," Vadra said through Singhvi during the hearing on March 25.

Vadra's counsel Tulsi further claimed that the raids to obtain documents was illegal even if his client is an accused. He also placed relevant judgements to support his claim.

Dissenting on the claims, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) DP Singh, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, argued: "They talked about agency's lust for custody. It is their lust for money which has led to ours."

Enforcement Directorate (ED) informed the court that offence is about the money coming in as kickbacks, Rs. 300 crore from Pilatis and another one from Samsung. The payment is coming in the banks. Following the claim, the agency showed a flow chart regarding the allegations.

The court was hearing two anticipatory bail pleas filed by Vadra, son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and his aide Manoj Arora.

On March 19, the ED had sought custodial interrogation of Vadra alleging that he is not cooperating in the investigations related to an alleged money laundering case in connection with the purchase of a London-based property at 12, Bryanston Square, allegedly worth 1.9 million pounds.