 "ED files chargesheet against Robert Vadra in Shikohpur land deal case")
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against businessman Robert Vadra, the husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in connection with a money laundering case linked to a 2008 land deal in Shikohpur, Haryana, news agency PTI reported.
This is the first time a chargesheet has been filed by any investigative agency against 56-year-old Vadra in a criminal matter. According to the report, the ED has filed the complaint in a local court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Vadra was questioned by the agency for three consecutive days in April.
Shikohpur land deal case
The case concerns a land transaction involving Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd, a company in which Vadra was previously a director. In February 2008, the company purchased 3.5 acres of land in Shikohpur, Gurugram (then Manesar-Shikohpur, now sector 83), from Onkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.5 crore.
At the time, Haryana was governed by the Congress under then chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Four years later, in September 2012, Skylight Hospitality sold the land to real estate firm DLF for Rs 58 crore.
The deal became controversial in October 2012 when senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka, then serving as director general of land consolidation and land records-cum-inspector general of registration in Haryana, cancelled the land mutation. He stated the transaction violated provisions of the state’s consolidation act and related procedures.
Robert Vadra rejects allegations
Vadra has consistently maintained that he has done nothing wrong. He has described the case as a "political vendetta" aimed at targeting him and his family, which includes former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and current Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
Apart from the Shikohpur land deal, the ED is also probing Vadra in two other cases. One is related to UK-based arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, and the other involves a separate land deal in Bikaner, Rajasthan.