In fresh trouble for Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, the Enforcement Directorate on Monday filed yet another money laundering case against Skylight Hospitality, a firm allegedly linked to him, in connection with irregularities related to land deals in Gurgaon (Haryana) in 2008.
Vadra is already being probed by the ED in connection with two other money laundering cases — one related to Bikaner land scam of Rajasthan and another linked to arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari and acquisition of overseas assets through the “proceeds of crime”.
The agency has filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), FIR in police parlance, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The latest case follows searches conducted by the ED last month against three persons linked to Vadra in connection with its probe into alleged “commissions received by some suspects in
Defence deals” and illegal assets stashed abroad.
The fresh case was registered after taking cognisance of an FIR filed by the Haryana Police in September last year, officials said.
According to the Haryana Police FIR, Skylight Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. purchased 3.5 acres of land in Gurgaon’s Sector 83 from Onkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.50 crore in 2008 when Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress was the Chief Minister and also held the portfolio of the Town and County Planning Department.
Later, Skylight Hospitality sold this land to realty major DLF at a price of Rs 58 crore, after procuring a commercial licence for the development of the colony with the influence of Hooda, the police had alleged. The company thus made a profit of about Rs 50 crore. Vadra has denied the charges.
In return for the alleged favours to Skylight , the State Government allotted 350 acres of land to DLF at Wazirabad in Gurgaon in violation of rules, claims the FIR. In the alleged quid pro quo, the real estate giant made an undue profit of Rs 5,000 crore, it had said.
The ED will probe if such a financial irregularity led to laundering of funds and creation of illegal assets by the accused.
The ED is also probing the role of Hooda in connection with a similar land deal case in Gurgaon’s Manesar area.