Widening its probe against Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the ED has requested its UK counterparts to share details of ownership and related financial transactions of over half-a-dozen assets there that the agency claimed were acquired using laundered money and belonged to him.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also sought assistance from financial intelligence units of some countries to unravel the flow of funds used to purchase these assets, officials said.

The agency is planning to provisionally attach these immovable assets in London and nearby areas under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The 50-year-old businessman, who is the husband of Congress leader Priyanka Vadra, has been grilled 13 times by the ED with regard to a London-based property located at 12, Bryanston Square worth 1.9 million GBP (British pounds), which is allegedly owned by him.

The agency has evidence that some more assets in the United Kingdom are “linked” to Vadra. These include two houses — one worth 5 million GBP and the other valued at 4 million GBP, besides six other residential flats, sources said.

The ED has detected some alleged undisclosed transactions being made from Cyprus and Dubai for the purchase of these assets by people linked to Vadra, the sources said.

Questioning of Vadra on his links to these assets has not got the agency much leads. It now wants to put Vadra through sustained interrogation and has moved court to cancel his anticipatory bail, they said.

In his defence, Vadra had claimed that he was being subjected to “sensation and unnecessary drama” by the repeated exercise of summoning him by the ED.

The ED has asked its UK counterparts to help them get full details of the chain of ownership of these assets apart from documents that legally establish their sale and purchase over a period of time.

A main suspect for the Enforcement Directorate in these dealings is NRI businessman C C Thampi who has been charged by the agency in an alleged illegal hawala dealings and land purchase case in the country in 2017.

It had issued a show-cause notice to Thampi for alleged violation of foreign exchange laws to the tune of over Rs 1,000 crore in the purchase of vast tracts of land in Kerala.

Thampi has now been summoned by the agency for questioning about his links with Vadra and absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari. But Thampi has sought more time to appear before the ED as he claims he is unwell, the sources said. Some other people linked to Vadra and Bhandari have also been summoned by the agency.