Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her husband Robert Vadra have been named in a Enforcement Directorate chargesheet in a money-laundering case, reported the Hindustan Times.
The chargesheet has been filed against businessman CC Thampi and a person named Sumit Chadha, a British national of Indian origin, but the Vadras are not accused of any crime.
The charegesheet alleged that the Vadras bought around five acres of agricultural land in Faridabad, Haryana, in 2006 through Delhi-based real estate agent HL Pahwa, who also sold land to NRI CC Thampi, said the chargesheet filed in November, the Hindustan Times reported on Thursday.
The Enforcement Directorate believes that Thampi and Chadha helped a fugitive arms dealer named Sanjay Bhandari hide the proceeds of his crimes. Bhandari has been booked on charges of money laundering, tax evasion, violations of laws relating to foreign exchange and black money, and violating the Official Secrets Act.
Details of the land transaction in Haryana have been mentioned by the economic law enforcement agency to establish a link between Robert Vadra and Thampi, the Hindustan Times reported. The two share “a long and thick relationship” as well as “common and similar business interests” said the chargesheet.
Pahwa is the same real estate agent from whom Vadra purchased around 40 acres of land in Faridabad’s Amipur village in 2006, before selling it back to him in 2010. Thampi executed a similar deal for around 483 acres of land in 2020 while he was out on bail following arrest. He had used Pahwa’s help to buy the land more than a decade earlier.
The Enforcement Directorate has earlier named Robert Vadra as a close aide of Thampi in chargesheets accusing the latter of crimes under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. This is the first time that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been linked to Thampi in an official document submitted to court.
The federal agency has alleged that Pahwa received cash out of the books for the land purchase in Haryana.
Senior Congress leaders have accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of using the Enforcement Directorate to target Opposition members in the run up to general elections next year, NDTV reported.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that “names of several leaders are attached with Enforcement Directorate right before Lok Sabha elections”.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole told news agency ANI, “The central government is scared of the Gandhi family...BJP is trying to divert people from the real issues.
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