E-Paper
Three plots in Haryana: Probe in 2005-06 land transactions of Priyanka, Vadra on, says ED
The federal agency filed the chargesheet (prosecution complaint) in November before a Delhi court against UAE-based NRI businessman CC Thampi, who is allegedly linked to Robert Vadra, and Sumit Chadha, a relative of alleged middleman Sanjay Bhandari.
Purchase of three plots of land in Haryana in 2005-06 by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra from a real estate agent is being probed along with a land deal made by his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed in a recently filed money laundering case chargesheet.
The federal agency filed the chargesheet (prosecution complaint) in November before a Delhi court against UAE-based NRI businessman CC Thampi, who is allegedly linked to Robert Vadra, and Sumit Chadha, a relative of alleged middleman Sanjay Bhandari.
Though Robert Vadra and Priyanka Gandhi, a Congress general secretary, have not been named as accused in the chargesheet, this is the first time that Priyanka Gandhi has been named in a chargesheet filed before a court.
A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi took cognisance of this chargesheet on December 22 and listed the matter for next hearing on January 29, 2024.
Bhandari fled to the UK in 2016 and the British government approved his extradition to India in January this year acting on a legal request made by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The two federal agencies are probing charges of money laundering and tax evasion against the alleged middleman for holding alleged undisclosed assets abroad.
The ED stated in the chargesheet that it came across the land purchase and sale transactions of the Vadras after it registered a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case against 67-year-old Thampi in 2015. A “long and thick relationship” existed between Robert Vadra and Thampi, the agency said.
Robert Vadra has been questioned by the agency in this case in the past and he had denied any wrongdoing.
Thampi, the ED said, had purchased about 486 acres of land between 2005 and 2008 in Amirpur village in Haryana’s Faridabad district through HL Pahwa, a real estate agent based in Delhi-NCR.
“It is imperative to mention that Robert Vadra also purchased three pieces of land measuring 334 kanals (40.08 acres) in Amirpur from HL Pahwa from 2005-2006 and sold the same land to HL 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 Amirpur village, Faridabad, Haryana, from HL Pahwa in April 2006 and sold the same land to HL Pahwa in February 2010,” the ED stated.
It said, “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.”
Thampi was arrested in this case in January 2020 and the ED in a recent press statement alleged that he was a “close associate” of Robert Vadra.
Thampi is at present out on bail.
The ED also stated in the chargesheet that Thampi, in a statement recorded before the agency in January 2020, said he purchased a Land Cruiser car from Robert Vadra “more than 10 years ago” for which he made payments to the businessman through cheques from his NRE accounts in India.
