ED summons Robert Vadra in Bikaner land deal case

Enforcement Directorate on Friday summoned Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra in connection with a case involving land deals in the Kolayat area of Bikaner, senior ED officials said here.
The central probe agency had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in September 2015. It was alleged that the purchase and sale of land had been done at an extremely high premium by the Vadra-owned Skylight Hospitality through a web of illegal transactions.

The probe agency had earlier summoned Vadra in this case but he did not turn up before the agency.Now the ED has summoned him for questioning again and asked him to be present in person in the first week of December, a probe agency official said.

The probing agency is investigating the Kolayat land deal based on FIRs filed by Rajasthan police in 2015 in connection with alleged land grabbing in Bikaner. Several companies, directly or indirectly associated with Vadra, are alleged to have been involved in these fraudulent deals.He was never named in any ED case as an accused and would be questioned for the first time in the case, the sources said.