Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has been named by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its chargesheet for her alleged role in purchasing agricultural land in Haryana.
As per the charge sheet, Priyanka bought the land measuring 40 kanal (five acres) from a Delhi-based real estate agent HL Pahwa in 2006 and sold the same land to him in February 2010. However, she has not been named as an accused.
The chargesheet read that Priyanka purchased the land in Amipur village from Pahwa from whom Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra also purchased three pieces of land measuring 334 kanals (40.08 acres). This happened from 2005-2006 and Vadra later sold the same land to him in December 2010. The ED accuses Pahwa of receiving cash out of the books for the acquisition of land. "It was also noticed that Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra did not pay the entire sale consideration to Pahwa."
The ED had earlier named Vadra, son-in-law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in a fresh chargesheet against C C or Cheruvathur Chakutty Thampi, a UAE-based NRI businessman, and UK national Sumit Chadha.
According to the ED, Pahwa is the same agent who sold land to Thampi. The case also involves fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, who is under investigation by multiple agencies for money laundering, violation of foreign exchange and black money laws, and the Official Secrets Act. He fled India for the UK in 2016.
The agency alleged that Vadra "renovated and stayed" at a London property which is a "proceeds of crime" in a money laundering case against alleged middleman Sanjay Bhandari. The British government approved Bhandari's extradition to India in January this year acting on the legal request made by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The probe found, it said, that Thampi "is a close associate of Mr Robert Vadra". "Mr Robert Vadra not only renovated the aforesaid property at 12 Bryanston Square, London through Sumit Chadha but also stayed in the same. "Mr Robert Vadra as well as C C Thampi purchased a huge chunk of land at Faridabad (near Delhi) and had financial transactions with each other," the ED claimed.
On Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's name in the ED chargesheet, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said it was a conspiracy. "Look at what they'll do ahead of the elections, it's just the beginning. They are not doing it for the first time, they do such conspiracies when elections approach," he alleged.
