Robert Vadra appears before ED for second day

Robert Vadra, the husband of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for nine hours ending at around 9.30 pm on the second consecutive day on Thursday in connection with a money laundering case.

The day also saw former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti also appearing before a separate ED team in the INX Media case. While Karti came at around 11 AM, Vadra reached the ED office in New Delhi at 11:25 AM.

Vadra’s wife Priyanka went to the ED office at night to pick her husband after questioning. On Wednesday, she made a political statement by dropping Vadra at the ED office before driving to the Congress office to take charge as the party’s general secretary. On Thursday, she came to ED office after attending her first official meeting chaired by her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

The property is claimed to be owned by Vadra, which he vehemently denied.

Vadra's lawyer K T S Tulsi on Thursday said that his client has not committed any wrongdoing.

He was questioned for about six hours on the second day while on Wednesday, he was quizzed for over five hours, which was the first time Vadra appeared before the agency.

A Delhi court has given him interim protection from arrest till February 16.

He was questioned in two rounds with a one-hour break for lunch in between.

Sources said that Vadra was asked to come on Thursday as the investigators wanted him to respond to some more questions. He was apparently confronted with some documents that the agency has seized as part of its probe in the case, including those linked to absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

In a separate case, Karti appeared before the ED to record his statement. He was questioned in the INX Media case, officials said.

The agency has claimed that Karti received money from INX Media, using his influence to manipulate a tax probe against it in a case of violation of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) conditions to receive investment from Mauritius. It registered a case in May 2017.