New Delhi, Apr 1 : Special Judge Arvind Kumar on Monday granted anticipatory bail to Robert Vadra, the brother-in-law of Indian National Congress president Rahul Gandhi, in a case registered by the Directorate of Enforcement under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
ED had made allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property, which is allegedly owned by Mr Vadra, located at 12, Bryanston Square worth 1.9 million pounds.
Counsel for Mr Vadra submitted in the bail application that he was a law-abiding citizen and had appeared before the investigating agency as and when called.
ED had alleged that Manoj Arora, an employee of Mr Vadra’s Skylight Hospitality LLP, was a key person in the case as he was aware of his overseas undeclared assets and was instrumental in arranging funds.
Mr Arora, the ED submitted, arranged funds for Mr Vadra’s undeclared assets overseas and proceeds of crime were used to channel funds from the United Arab Emirates.
Ramifications
A First Information Report was lodged against Mr Vadra and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the month of September last year for alleged irregularities in land deals in Gurugram at Haryana. Mr Vadra had faced allegations that his company, Skylight Hospitality, sold 3.5 acres of land in 2008 in Shikohpur village to realty major DLF at a rate much higher than the prevailing rate. Questions had also been raised over the purchase and subsequent sale of land by the company in Bikaner, Rajasthan, at a significant premium through a maze of transactions.
The business premises linked to Mr Vadra’s associates were raided during the probe and ED had asked him to be present for questioning in the alleged money laundering case.
Directorate of Enforcement submitted that the money laundering charge was lodged against Arora after his role came up during the probe of another case by the Income Tax Department involving absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari under the provisions of a new law against black money and tax evasion.
ED side
ED had earlier submitted that Mr Vadra was not cooperating with the investigating agency so his custodial interrogation was required. Counsel for ED further submitted that it has information about various new properties in London which allegedly belong to Mr Vadra, including two houses of five and four million pounds each, six other flats and more properties.
Special Judge Kumar directed the ED to provide Mr Vadra all the documents seized from his office. Mr Vadra’s counsel had submitted that without providing the documents he has been questioned by the Investigating Agency.
The Judge passed an order to grant bail to Messrs Arora and Vadra with furnishing a surety bond of Rs 5 lac and a surety of the same amount. The court further directed them not to leave the country without its permission or not tamper with the evidence.
