Bikaner land scam: ED attaches majority of Vadra’s assets worth Rs 4.62 crore

ED attaches assets worth Rs.4.62 Crores of Sh. Robert Vadra’s Company M/s Sky Light Hospitality (P) Ltd (Now LLP) and others In Kolayat (Bikaner) Land Scam Case.

— ED (@dir_ed) February 15, 2019

In the past three days, Vadra and his mother Maureen were grilled by the ED in Jaipur for several hours. On Tuesday Vadra’s lawyer S J Khaitan said that Maureen Vadra’s investigation has concluded but Robert Vadra’s questioning will continue the next day. As per officials, the “partner” in the firm are both Vadra and his mother.

Vadra’s appearance before the ED follows a petition by Sky Light Hospitality. In January, Rajasthan High Court had stayed the arrest of the petitioners during the interrogation. However, as Additional Solicitor General Rajdeepak Rastogi stated that the collection of evidence was being stalled “due to non-cooperation of the partners of the petitioner” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the bench of Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati directed the partners of the petitioner to appear before the agencies at 10:30 am on February 12.

The case includes alleged fraudulent and fictitious claims and allotments of land in Bikaner’s Kolayat, which was meant for people who were displaced due to the creation of the Army’s Mahajan Firing Range. However, the land was allegedly acquired by various entities, including Vadra’s firm. In January 2012, Vadra’s Sky Light Hospitality Private Limited sold 69.55 hectares in Bikaner in two deals to Delhi-based Allegeny Finlease Pvt Ltd for Rs 5.15 crore — at Rs 7.41 lakh per hectare, which was seven times the purchase price of the same land two years ago.

The case will come up next on February 18 in the high court.