- Tuesday, April 15, 2025
The husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi is to be questioned in a Haryana land deal-linked money laundering case
By: India Weekly
ROBERT VADRA, businessman and husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi, on Tuesday (15) appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi for questioning in a Haryana land deal-linked money laundering case, official sources said.
The 56-year-old Vadra walked down for about 2 km, along with his security personnel and a media posse, from his residence at Sujan Singh Park in central Delhi to the ED headquarters on APJ Abdul Kalam Road.
He told reporters, “This is nothing but political vendetta. Whenever I speak for minorities they try to stop me, crush us… they tried to stop Rahul (Gandhi) in Parliament too. This is misuse of agencies and this is political vendetta”.
I will cooperate with them like in the past, he added.
Vadra was first summoned in this case on April 8, but he did not depose and sought a fresh date, the sources said.
The probe against Vadra is linked to a land deal in Haryana’s Shikohpur.
A company linked to Vadra – Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd – had purchased 3.5 acres of land in Shikohpur in Gurugram in February 2008 from a firm named Onkareshwar Properties at a price of ₹75 million (£662,075.55).
It is alleged that the mutation of this land was done within hours. Shortly after the land purchase, he got a permit to develop a housing society and the land value spiked. He then sold it to real estate developers DLF for ₹580 million (£5.12m).
The Congress was in power in Haryana and Bhupinder Hooda was the chief minister.
The BJP has repeatedly accused Hooda of stealing land from farmers to give to Vadra.
The Haryana Police had filed a case in this deal in 2018.
The ED will record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.
Vadra has been questioned multiple times by the federal probe agency in a different money laundering case.
The ED had filed a chargesheet in December 2023 against UAE-based NRI businessman C C Thampi, who is allegedly linked to Vadra, and Sumit Chadha, a relative of UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari, saying it was investigating the purchase of three plots of land in Haryana during 2005-06 by Vadra from a real estate agent along with a land deal made by his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Neither Vadra or Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were named as accused in the chargesheet.
Thampi, the ED had said, had purchased about 486 acres of land between 2005 and 2008 in Amirpur village in Faridabad in Haryana through H L Pahwa, a Delhi-NCR based real estate agent.
“It is imperative to mention that Robert Vadra also purchased three pieces of land measuring 334 kanals (40.08 acres) in Amirpur from H L Pahwa from 2005-2006 and sold the same land to H L Pahwa in December 2010,” it said in the chargesheet
“Further, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wife of Robert Vadra also purchased agricultural land measuring 40 kanal (05 acres) in village Amirpur, district Faridabad, Haryana, from H L Pahwa in April 2006 and sold the same land to H L Pahwa in February 2010,” the ED stated.
It said that “Pahwa was receiving cash out of the books for the purpose of acquisition of land”.
“It was also noticed that Robert Vadra did not pay the entire consideration to Pahwa. The investigation in this regard is still ongoing,” the ED said. (PTI)
