Robert Vadra's advocate cries foul over ED raid, terms it 'political vendetta'

Tavrej, the advocate of businessman Robert Vadra's Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd, has cried foul over the "illegal" raid conducted by officials from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), alleging that they harassed the employees of the firm in South Delhi's Sukhdev Vihar.

Showing the premises of the ransacked office, Tavrej, while speaking to ANI, said: "They (ED) entered by breaking the doors (of the office) and kept employees locked for 13 to 14 hours. They have completely ransacked the office. They took away the CCTV cameras, broke tiles in the kitchen and took laptops and other things from the cupboard."

Furthermore, he alleged that ED officials did not reveal their identity to employees or inform the company about the raid.

"They were here since around 10 am yesterday (Friday) and harassing our employees. They did not even tell employees that they are from the ED. Around 14 people were there in the end. They left at around 3 am after which the employees were released. They are harassing us since 2015 and are desperate," the advocate asserted.

Alleging that the raid was a "political vendetta", Tavrej said: "We cooperated with them and abided their summons. Still, I do not know in what motive they have done all this. This is illegal. Why do you want to take the law into hands? This is absolutely wrong. It is a political vendetta."

Vadra's lawyer had on Friday alleged that the ED conducted raids at the premises of close associates of his client at the behest of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government to plant false evidence against the businessman to divert attention from the probable loss of recently-held Legislative Assembly elections.

Vadra's advocate Suman Khaitan claimed that ED officials raided "close associates" and business partners of his client in Delhi without any search warrants.

Vadra, who is the son-in-law of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, had earlier this week alleged that the corruption probe against him was the result of a political witch-hunt aimed at "besmirching his dignity and reputation".

In a Facebook post, Vadra claimed that the authorities were well aware of the fact that there was no case against him, adding that the proceedings were a mere "media circus" to distract the public.