I-T dept visits Vadra's premises in connection with benami assets case

The Income Tax department on Monday questioned Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, in connection with its probe against him under the benami assets law, official sources said.

Vadra, 52, said the action was aimed to "digress" from the "real issues" concerning the country like the farmers' agitation. 

Sources said Vadra was asked to join the investigation at the tax authority's office in the national capital but as he cited Covid-19 restrictions, a team of officials visited his official premises in Delhi's Sukhdev Vihar area.

He was questioned for about eight hours and his statement was recorded as part of the proceedings related to the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, they said.

Sources added that the questioning was linked to the purchase of some land parcels by a firm linked to Vadra in Rajasthan's border town of Bikaner in which another central probe agency, the Enforcement Directorate, had filed a money laundering case in 2015. 

The ED has questioned Vadra in this case in the past and had attached assets worth Rs 4.62 crore of his firm Ms Sky Light Hospitality (P) (now LLP) in 2019.