On Thursday, 22nd December 2022, the Rajasthan High Court rejected a plea by Robert Vadra seeking to quash the Bikaner land deal case. Angry Robert Vadra was later seen threatening a police case against reporters who were asking him for his reaction over the court’s decision when he was leaving his home.
Robert Vadra’s petition challenging the Enforcement Directorate’s probe into an alleged case of money laundering involving the purchase of land in Bikaner was denied by the Rajasthan High Court on Thursday. The investigation relates to the suspected purchase of 275 bighas of property by Vadra’s firm in the Kolayat area of the Bikaner district.
The petition filed by Mahesh Nagare and Robert Vadra against the Enforcement Directorate’s probe was rejected by the single bench of justice Dr. Pushpendra Singh Bhati. After three days of relentless hearings, the court on Wednesday reserved its verdict. The court refused to intervene in the ED investigations while pronouncing the decision on Thursday, December 22. The purported Bikaner land fraud had an enforcement case information report (ECIR) filed by ED.
The ED’s Additional Solicitor General, RD Rastogi, said the court dismissed Vadra’s writ appeal to quash the ECIR. In November 2018, the ED summoned Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen Vadra, who were apparently partners at the Sky Light Hospitality LLP, but none of them showed up. Instead, they filed a petition with the high court asking for a “no coercive action” order and an arrest stay.
The additional solicitor general opposed the petition, claiming that an ex-parte stay had been in place since 2018 and that the ED had requested it in order to question Robert Vadra. He had also claimed that the Supreme Court had previously ruled in favor of the ED on the relevant issues. Rastogi said that the filing of the writ petition contesting the ED’s decision amounted to a misuse of the legal system and a case of money laundering.
On the basis of FIRs submitted by the state police following a complaint from the local tehsildar, the central investigation agency opened a criminal case of money laundering in 2016. Vadra, a partner of Sky Light Hospitality, and his mother Maureen Vadra were ordered by the court on 21st January 2019 to appear before the ED for questioning. The court ordered that neither of them shall be arrested.
Robert Vadra threatened reporters
When reporters from TV news channels reached Robert Vadra’s residence to hear his reaction to the court’s decision, Vadra threatened to file a police case against the reporters.
#VadraSetback
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) December 22, 2022
Big setback for #RobertVadra as a plea to quash the land case against him has been rejected by Rajasthan High Court.
When confronted by TIMES NOW’s @aishvaryjain Robert Vadra ‘threatened to file a police case’. pic.twitter.com/s84UihRfiq
Angry Robert Vadra came out of his residence with a mobile phone in his hands. He was clicking the photographs of the reporters in order to save their identities. He said, “Who is this guy? Who is this guy? And who is this guy? File the police case against all of them. File the police case against all of them.”
