NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed a prosecution complaint (equivalent to a police charge sheet) against businessman Robert Vadra, husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with a land deal in Gurugram’s Shikohpur area, officials said.
Notably, this is the first time any central probe agency has charged the 56-year-old businessman in a criminal case.
Sources said the ED has also attached 43 immovable properties worth Rs 37.64 crore linked to Vadra and associated entities such as Sky Light Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. and others. The agency issued a provisional attachment order under the provisions of the PMLA, they added.
According to the sources, the prosecution complaint against Vadra has been submitted in the Rouse Avenue court here under provisions of the PMLA.
“A total of 11 entities including Vadra, a firm linked to him named Sky Light Hospitality Pvt. Ltd., Satyanand Yajee and Kewal Singh Virk, their company Onkareshwar Properties Pvt. Ltd. and some others have been named as accused,” a source said, adding that the court is yet to take cognisance of the prosecution complaint.
Notably, Vadra has appeared before the ED several times to record his statements under provisions of the PMLA in connection with the case and he has always denied any wrongdoing. He always maintained that the case was a “political vendetta” against him and his family including former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
According to the sources, the ED, however, in its charge sheet alleged that Vadra laundered money and has sought confiscation of the assets it has attached so far.
The ED’s case under provisions of the PMLA is based on a September, 2018 FIR registered by the Gurugram Police, which alleged fraudulent purchase of 3.53 acres of land situated in village Shikohpur in Sector 83 (Gurugram) by Vadra, through his entity SkyLight Hospitality Pvt. Ltd., from Onkareshwar Properties Pvt. Ltd. on 12.02.2008 through a “false” declaration at a cost of Rs 7.5 crore. It is alleged that commercial license was also obtained by Vadra on the said land using his “personal influence”.
A Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda was in power at that time. Four years later, in September 2012, the company (Sky Light) sold the land to realty major DLF for Rs 58 crore.
The land deal got embroiled in controversy in October 2012 after IAS officer Ashok Khemka, then posted as the director general of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration of Haryana, cancelled the mutation of this categorising the transaction as violation of state consolidation act and some related procedures.
