Appear before ED along with mother, HC tells Vadra

The High Court of Rajasthan has ordered Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) along with his mother, Maureen Vadra, on February 12.

The ED is investigating Vadra in the Bikaner land scam case. And the order was passed by Justice Pushparendra Singh Bhati.

However, the court maintained the stay order on the arrest of Robert Vadra in the Skylight Hospitality Ltd case.

The case pertains to a land deal in which Sky Light Hospitality had reportedly purchased a plot in Bikaner.

The ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in this matter in 2015 after the state police filed FIRs based on a complaint by a local tehsildar claiming forgery in the deal.

It is claimed that Skylight had sold 69.55 hectares of land to Allegeny Finlease at Rs 7.41 lakh per hectare, but it had purchased the land at the rate of Rs 1 lakh per hectare.

An authorised representative of several companies linked to Vadra had bought and sold the land on behalf of Skylight Hospitality.

The state government had cancelled the transfer of 374.44 hectares of land sold in various deals after it was found that land allotments were made in the name of fake persons.

It is claimed that land meant to expand army’s firing range was grabbed by the land mafia through forged and fabricated documents.