Robert Vadra skips ED summons in PMLA case linked to Sanjay Bhandari

Robert Vadra, the businessman husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Tuesday skipped an ED summons for questioning in a money laundering case linked to UK-based alleged arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari, official sources said.

The sources said Vadra sought an adjournment of Tuesday's summons, and he will now be given a fresh date.

The ED wants to record Vadra's statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and then file a chargesheet against him before the court, sources said.

The federal probe agency had questioned the 56-year-old businessman for three consecutive days in April in a separate money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in a 2008 land deal in Haryana.

Bhandari (63) fled to London in 2016, soon after the Income Tax Department raided him in Delhi.

A UK court earlier this month refused an application filed by the Indian government seeking permission to appeal in Britain's Supreme Court against the discharge of Bhandari in an extradition case, virtually ruling out chances of him being brought to the country to face the law.

The ED filed a chargesheet in this case in 2023, alleging that Bhandari acquired the 12, Bryanston Square house in London in 2009 and got it renovated "as per the directions of Robert Vadra, who provided the funds for the renovation.

Vadra has denied that he owns any London property directly or indirectly.

Terming the charges a political witch hunt, Vadra said he was being "hounded and harassed" to subserve political ends.

The ED is also investigating Vadra in a separate money laundering case linked to alleged financial irregularities in a land deal in Rajasthan's Bikaner.

The federal probe agency had previously questioned Vadra and his mother, Maureen, in this case.