Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

CBI TEAM IN BIKANER TO PROBE ‘ILLEGAL’ LAND DEALS

- Aparnesh Goswami htraj@hindustant­imes.com

BIKANER: A team of Central Bureau of Investigat­ion (CBI) has landed in Bikaner to investigat­e the alleged land scams in Bikaner.

The seven-member team is also learnt to have collected fresh documents and evidence to investigat­e the case further.

The CBI registered 18 FIRs recently after the Rajasthan government recommende­d a probe into the scams.

Sources said the CBI team headed by additional superinten­dent of police (ASP) Ravi Gambhir visited Kolayat and Gajner, where the alleged plots were allotted to some villagers in 2006-07, who were ‘wrongfully’ shown as farmers displaced by the acquisitio­n of land for the Mahajan Field Firing Range for the army.

Gambhir refused to comment on the issue when the Hindustan Times asked him about the progress in investigat­ion.

The Rajasthan government had written to the CBI for a probe into alleged land scams, including those involving a company linked to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra.

Separate FIRs were registered under relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code regarding a series of transactio­ns of land in Bikaner, of which Vadra’s companies also made a few purchases.

There were also allegation­s that Vadra had bought a lot more than what was reported, but these claims remain unsubstant­iated.

Sources said that Vadra may be interrogat­ed by the CBI for charges of wrongdoing­s such as buying from those who had bought it fraudulent­ly or by exceeding land ceiling.

Among the 18 FIRs registered by the central agency, 16 were lodged at the Gajner police station while two at Kolayat police station in Bikaner between August and September, 2014.

Vadra’s company was the third party to purchase 275 bigha of land in 2010 and it sold it to a fourth party in 2012.

Earlier, in its report Rajasthan Police have cleared the Robert Vadra-promoted Sky Light Hospitalit­y of any wrongdoing, saying the company was a victim of “conspiracy” and “cheating” as grabbed government land was sold to it.

THE RAJASTHAN GOVT HAD WRITTEN TO THE CBI SEEKING A PROBE INTO ALLEGED LAND SCAMS, INCLUDING DEALS BY A FIRM LINKED TO CONG CHIEF SONIA GANDHI’S SONINLAW ROBERT VADRA

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