Delhi HC grants week's time to ED for reply on Vadra's plea in PMLA case

The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted a week's time to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for filing its reply on separate pleas by Robert Vadra and his aide Manoj Arora challenging the constitutional validity of certain sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Vadra, son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and Arora have also sought quashing of the FIR against them in a money laundering case.

A division bench comprising Justices Hima Kohli and Vinod Goel asked the agency to submit its reply within one week and posted the matter for hearing to July 18.

Senior advocate KTS Tulsi, who is from Congress, appeared for Vadra and Arora while senior lawyer Amit Mahajan represented the ED.

The money laundering case relates to the alleged purchase of a London-based property at 12, Bryanston Square, worth1.9 million pounds, by Vadra.

On April 1, a special CBI court had granted anticipatory bail to the petitioners.

During proceedings before the high court on March 25, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta had questioned the maintainability of the petitions challenging PMLA sections, saying that the matter concerned is pending before the Supreme Court.

He had contended that the prayer for the quashing of the FIR was an "abuse of the process of the law".