The Enforcement Directorate has sought possession of a Delhi house owned by a company linked to Robert Vadra. As per a report by Economic Times, the house is located at Delhi’s Sukhdev Vihar.
The ED has alleged that the house was bought with the direct proceeds of the crime in the Bikaner land scam case.
The report states that the ED has filed an application urging the PMLA tribunal to vacate the stay clamped on the appellate authority on August 2019 from taking any coercive action against Vadra or his company Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd. The ED had reportedly attached the house in February last year.
The ED application states that the granting of stay in taking possession of the said property is against the PMLA provisions. The application adds that the tribunal granted the stay in favour of Sky Light Hospitality ‘without the authority of law’ and that the “balance of convenience” lies in ED’s favour and against Vadra’s company.
The house is located at 268, Sukhdev Vihar.
The ED application states that possession of the house is sought to prevent the concerned person (Vadra) from enjoying the property. It has also reportedly refused to settle for an offer by Vadra’s company to settle for an amount corresponding to the value of the property, claimed the ET report.
The ED says that the house was bought with approximately Rs 10 crore, out of which 4.43 crores was provided by Vadra’s company. Vadra had denied any involvement in the Bikaner land scam case.
In February 2019, Robert Vadra had appeared at the ED office for questioning, after he had ignored several summonses issued by the agency.
In April 2018, ED had attached the properties of Vadra’ aide Jaiprakash Bagarwa in connection with the Bikaner Land Scam case. In the Bikaner Land Scam case, the land was allegedly allotted in the name of non-existent individuals by the State government officials in collusion with some fraudulent individuals including real estate developers.
Jaiprakash Bagarwa and another person Ashok Kumar have been arrested by ED in December 2017 in the same case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. In February 2018, ED had reportedly conducted raids in the Faridabad premises of Congress leader Mahesh Nagar in connection with the land scam. Mahesh Nagar was reportedly the official representative of Skylight Hospitality, a real estate firm Robert Vadra is associated with.
