Probe under way in 2005-06 land deals of Priyanka Gandhi, Robert Vadra: ED

New Delhi: The purchase of a five-acre plot in Haryana and its resale by Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has come under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate, which made a mention of it in a charge sheet in a money laundering case linked to associates of fugitive middle-man Sanjay Bhandari.

Along with Priyanka, her husband Robert Vadra's three land deals are also under the scanner. Though her name is being mentioned in an ED charge sheet for the first time, Priyanka is not named as an accused in the charge sheet filed against UAE-based NRI businessman C C Thampi, an associate of Vadra, and Sumit Chadha, a relative of Bhandari.

On Tuesday, the ED said in a statement that it has told a court that Vadra has allegedly renovated and stayed at a property in London which is "proceeds of crime" in the case linked to Bhandari. While Vadra was not mentioned as an accused in the charge sheet, it spoke about Thampi being his close associate.

The ED and CBI are leading probes under charges of money laundering and tax evasion against Bhandari, who has been a middleman in several arms deals in the country. Bhandari is battling extradition from the United Kingdom to India.

The ED probe was on the basis of searches as well as a prosecution complaint filed by the Income Tax Department under Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. Vadra was questioned by the agency earlier and he had denied any wrongdoing.

In the charge sheet, officials said, the ED claimed that it came across the land purchase and sale transactions by Vadra and Priyanka after registering a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case against Thampi in 2015.

It said Thampi had purchased 486 acres in Amirpur village in Haryana's Faridabad through a real estate agent H L Pahwa between 2005 and 2008. It claimed Vadra also purchased three pieces of land measuring 40.08 acres in Amirpur from Pahwa in 2005-2006 and sold the same land back to the agent in December 2010.

The charge sheet also claimed that Priyanka purchased agricultural land measuring five acres in village Amirpur from Pahwa in April 2006 and resold it to him in February 2010.

Thampi also recorded a statement before the ED in January 2020 claiming that he bought a Land Cruiser car from Vadra "more than 10 years ago" for which he made payments through cheques. Thampi has also not submitted any documents to explain a bank transaction of Rs 10 lakh with Vadra in 2007, the ED claimed in the charge sheet. The ED said it is "quite evident" that Vadra has a close association with Thampi.

The ED claimed that Bhandari allegedly held "various undisclosed" foreign income and assets, including properties at No 12, Bryanston Square, London and 6, Grosvenor Hill, London. "These assets are proceeds of crime...Thampi and Sumit Chadha have been found to be involved in the concealment and use of these proceeds of crime," the statement claimed.

"The ED investigation further revealed that CC Thampi is a close associate of Robert Vadra. Robert Vadra not only renovated the aforesaid property at 12, Bryanston Square, London through Sumit Chadha but also stayed in the same. Further, Robert Vadra as well as CC Thampi purchased a huge chunk of land at Faridabad and had financial transactions with each other," it added.