UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, whose dubious land dealings in Congress-ruled States made headlines in the past, has been caught in yet another controversy.
English news channel Headlines Today on Thursday claimed Vadra threw the law book to the wind to buy pieces of land beyond the permissible limit in Rajasthan. The channel quoted documents to suggest that Vadra will reap a windfall from vast swathes of land bought by him in arid Bikaner thanks to an amendment in the law by the Ashok Gehlot Government.
While Vadra may have bought several hundred acres of land before the amendment to the land Ceiling Act, the channel claimed specific information about four transactions of a total 321.78 acres — nearly double the permissible limit of 175 acres.
In Basti Chauanan village in Bikaner, Vadra is reported to have bought 218 acres in 2009 through a frontman Mahesh Nagar, the channel claimed.
The second tract of land was bought in Gajner Village. Here Vadra bought over 36 acres on June 4, 2009. The land deal documents mentioned Mahesh Nagar as the buyer on behalf of Blue Breeze Pvt Trading ltd, of which Vadra is the Director. Vadra bought another 27 acres land in Gajner village on June 4, 2009. Once again the buyer is Mahesh Nagar. On June 12, 2009, Vadra mopped up 39 acre in Gajner village, and again Mahesh Nagar bought this land on behalf on Blue Breeze Trading...
The Channel quoted Vineet Asopa, one of the sellers, as saying, “I got to know the land was being bought by Vadra during registry. I was surprised that my barren piece of land was being bought at a premium.”
“...I got an expert to check the land for presence of minerals. I sold more than 350 bighas of land to Vadra.”
Mahesh Nagar to whom Asopa sold his land is only the authorised signatory, and not the owner of the land. The companies he represented for the land deals, Real Earth and Blue Breeze, have Robert Vadra as the majority stakeholder. Vadra owns 99 per cent equity in Real Earth while his mother Maureen owns the remaining one per cent.
A similar story surfaced from Congress-ruled Haryana, where Vadra violated rules to acquire lands and then resell at a premium. Vadra struck four land deals in Amirpura Village, 30 km from Delhi, with one Harbans lal Pahwa. In total, the Vadras bought 46 acres at Amipur village in Faridabad, only to sell it back to Pahwa at a premium. Sonia’s daughter Priyanaka Vadra is also involved in one of these transactions. These deals were in direct violation of the Haryana Ceiling on land Holdings Act, 1972. The Act states that permissible area that can be possessed by one person or his family is a maximum of 26.9 acres of agricultural land.
“What is raising eyebrows is not just the violation of the land Ceiling Act, but the curious manner in which Vadra sold the land back to the original seller,” the channel said. less than five years later, the buyer becomes the seller and the seller turns into the buyer. The entire 46 acres was bought by the land dealer Pahwa, in three instalments and at double the price.
While going through Vadra’s balance sheets, Headlines Today stumbled upon a curious figure ofRs 1,55,00,000 and once again the name of Harbans lal Pahwa came to the fore. Documents in possession with the Headlines Today showed that Pahwa’s company, Carnival Intercontinental Estate Pvt ltd, had given a loan of Rs 1,55,00,000 to Vadra’s company, Skylight Hospitality. Pahwa also held directorship in Vadra’s company, Real Earth, for over a year between February 18, 2008 to March 23, 2009.
According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website, there are only two shareholders in Blue Breeze Trading Private limited - Vadra and his mother Maureen. The channel also claimed to have in its possession copies of the cheques issued in the name of M/s Real Earth Estates Pvt ltd, which bear the signatures of Vadra. These cheques used to boy the different pieces of land establish Vadra operated through his front man Mahesh Nagar.
These transactions are in clear violation of the Rajasthan Imposition of Ceiling On Agricultural Holdings Act, 1973 as Vadra had crossed the maximum permissible limit of 175 acres by April 2009.
Vadra bought more than 321 acres land between April 2009 and August 2010. In September 2010, the Rajasthan Government amended the more than three-decades-old law and scrapped the ceiling on land. The amendment was loaded with retrospective clause making all previous acquisitions legal.
After amending the law to scrap ceilings on land purchases, the Rajasthan Government sat on the Centre’s directive to create a land bank for solar projects for almost three years. This gave Vadra the legal cover to carry on with acquisitions at a blinding pace in barren stretches, which three years later became the state’s solar hub.
BJP alleges that Vadra was privy to the plan about a rich harvest in the wasteland. Its MP Arjun Ram Meghwal says, “We want a probe into Vadra’s land transactions. While the Government delayed setting up a land bank, companies linked to Robert Vadra came here purchased land through brokers. They bought land in Bikaner, Kolayat, Phalodi, Barmer and Jaisalmer.”
And here’s how Vadra made a tidy profit in Bikaner. He bought 81.35 acres in Bikaner’s Kolayat regions and later sold it for solar power project to Indo-French company, Fonroche Saaras at six times the purchase price. Vadra made 612 per cent profit only on this one transaction. The price of land had shot up 6 times in a period of 2 years.
On June 4, 2009, Vadra’s front man again bought 27.5 acres in Gajner and sold it for over six times premium. He bought the land for over Rs 13 lakh and sold it for over 75 lakh to Fonroche Rajhans.
