Robert Vadra links ED summon to BJP's ‘vendetta’ over his political entry wish: ‘People love me’
The ED summoned Robert Vadra in connection with a land deal in Shikohpur village of Haryana's Gurugram, according to people familiar with the matter.
Businessman and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi's husband Robert Vadra on Tuesday was at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Delhi for questioning in a land deal-linked money laundering case.
The summon comes a day after Robert Vadra expressed his willingness to join politics, saying that if the Congress party feels he should take that step, he would do so with the blessings of his family.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law in connection with a land deal in Shikohpur village of Haryana's Gurugram, according to people familiar with the matter.
Officials noted that this is the first time Robert Vadra has been called in this case, which stems from a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Haryana Police in 2018. The ED subsequently initiated its own investigation based on the FIR.
Responding to queries of media persons at the ED office on Tuesday, Robert Vadra said he hopes “there is a conclusion today” in the case he said has "nothing.
‘People love me’
Robert Vadra called the summon a “political vendetta” carried out by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and suggested that it is done to stop him from entering politics.
“We told the ED we were organising our documents, I am always ready to be here... I hope there's a conclusion today. There is nothing in the case... When I speak in favor of the country, I am stopped, Rahul is stopped from speaking in the Parliament. BJP is doing it. This is a political vendetta. People love me and want me to join politics...,” news agency ANI quoted Robert Vadra as saying on Tuesday.
"When I express my willingness to join politics, they bring up old issues to bring me down and divert from the real issues... There is nothing in the case. I have been summoned 15 times and interrogated for more than 10 hours every time for the last 20 years. Organising 23,000 documents is not easy," Vadra added.
The case involves a land transaction from February 2008, when Vadra’s firm, Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd, purchased a 3.5-acre plot in Shikohpur from Onkareshwar Properties for ₹7.5 crore. It is alleged that the mutation of the land was completed within just 25 hours.
Hindustan Times was the first to report in December 2023 about a chargesheet filed a month earlier against fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari and British national Sumit Chadha in a separate case. At the time, the ED claimed that Robert Vadra and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had acquired several acres of land in Haryana through a Delhi-based real estate agent, who also sold land to NRI businessman CC Thampi.
