The Enforcement Directorate (ED) continued its questioning of Robert Vadra, the businessman and husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, for a third consecutive day on Thursday, as part of its investigation into a money laundering case linked to a 2008 Haryana land deal.
The session lasted for approximately six hours, bringing the total duration of Vadra’s questioning over the past three days to about 16 hours. Vadra, 56, has repeatedly dismissed the ED's actions as a "political witch hunt" against him and his family.
Vadra arrived at the ED office in central Delhi around 11 am on Thursday, accompanied by his wife, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress MP from Kerala’s Wayanad. He left the agency’s office later in the evening, around 6:15 pm. As of Thursday evening, ED sources confirmed that no further date for his appearance has been set, and it remains unclear whether he will be summoned again for additional questioning.
During the questioning, Vadra was asked about 16 to 17 questions, and his statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
In a brief interaction with the media before his appearance, Vadra asserted that he had already been cleared by the Haryana government and cited the statements made by former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in 2019 and 2020. He questioned the timing of the ED's actions, asking why he was being called after so many years.
Vadra referred to the investigation as part of a "political witch hunt" and expressed his belief that the agencies were being misused for political purposes.
Over the last two days, Vadra has consistently claimed that the ED’s actions were motivated by political vendetta against him and his family.
He also stated that he had fully cooperated with the agency, providing thousands of pages of documents, and he emphasised the need for "closure" in these nearly 20-year-old cases. According to sources, the ED is preparing to file a chargesheet against Vadra in this case, along with two other ongoing money laundering investigations. There may also be asset attachments in these cases.
Also Read: Waqf law: Centre won’t denotify, SC gives 7-day deadline
The current investigation involves a land deal that took place in February 2008 in the Manesar-Shikohpur area (now Sector 83) in Gurugram, Haryana. At that time, Vadra was a director of a company called Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd, which purchased 3.5 acres of land in Shikohpur from Onkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.5 crore.
The deal occurred when Haryana was governed by the Congress-led government of Bhupinder Singh Hooda. In 2012, four years after the purchase, Skylight Hospitality sold the land to the realty giant DLF for Rs 58 crore.
The deal became controversial in 2012 when IAS officer Ashok Khemka, then serving as the Director General of Land Consolidation and Land Records and Inspector-General of Registration in Haryana, annulled the land mutation. He stated that the transaction violated the state’s consolidation Act and related procedures.
The controversy was further amplified when the opposition BJP accused the deal of being a case of "corruption" and "nepotism," linking it to Vadra’s connection with the first family of the Congress party.
In 2018, the Haryana Police filed an FIR to investigate the land deal. This is not the first time Vadra has been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate. He has previously been interrogated in connection with two other money laundering cases.
Also Read: WBSSC scam: SC allows untainted teachers to continue duties
Follow us
