A Delhi court has reserved its order regarding the prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate against businessman Robert Vadra and others in a money laundering case related to a 2008 land deal in Gurugram’s Shikohpur village. The Special Court at the Rouse Avenue Court made this decision after considering submissions on the matter of taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the anti-money laundering agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court is set to announce its decision on April 15.
The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that Vadra, who is the husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the son-in-law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, was involved in generating proceeds of crime through a deceptive land transaction involving 3.53 acres of land in Haryana. It is further claimed that these proceeds were channeled through multiple companies supposedly under his control.
Previously, the court had issued notices to Vadra and other proposed accused individuals as per the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Section 223(1), which mandates that an accused should have the opportunity to be heard before cognisance is taken. The ED has identified Rs 58 crore as proceeds of crime and has provisionally attached 43 immovable properties worth Rs 38.69 crore, which are directly linked to the alleged proceeds of crime.
The probe agency has requested a maximum penalty of seven years’ rigorous imprisonment under Section 4 of the PMLA, along with the confiscation of the attached properties. In 2012, senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka had canceled the Shikohpur land deal due to procedural irregularities. Despite a government panel later clearing Vadra and DLF, an FIR was filed by the Haryana Police after the BJP-led government assumed power in the state.
