ED GRILLS VADRA FOR SIX HOURS
Questioned for the first time in any of the probes initiated against him; Cong calls it a witch-hunt by NDA
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said she stood by her husband Robert Vadra, as she dropped him off at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in connection with a money laundering case.
“He is my husband, he is my family... I support my family,” Priyanka Gandhi said when asked whether she was sending a message by dropping off her husband. “Everyone knows why this is being done,” PTI reported her as saying. Her comment (and the drop-off) came hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) targeted Vadra, challenging Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi’s brother, to explain how a “road-pati” became a “crorepati”.
The Congress has maintained that the cases against Vadra are part of a political witch-hunt by the BJP-led Union government.
Priyanka Gandhi has taken charge as general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh (East). This is the first organisational position she has held in the Congress. Wednesday marked the first time Vadra has been questioned in any of the probes initiated against him under the Narendra Modi regime. He remained in the ED office for over six hours, during which investigators recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case.
“Following a review of the answers given by Vadra, we will take a call whether to ask to him to come for another round of questioning,” said a senior ED official on condition of anonymity. He will be questioned again on Thursday from 10.30am. He is expected to appear before ED officers in Rajasthan in connection with another probe on February 12. Vadra’s lawyer Suman Jyoti Khaitan said his client appeared on his own and has cooperated with investigators. “Whatever questions were put to him, he answered all of them. This is a politically motivated case and Vadra has always denied all the charges,” he said.
Khaitan refused to go into the specifics of questioning but said: ““He will appear before ED if called again. Whenever the ED will call him, he will appear.”
ED has alleged that Vadra is the controlling beneficiary of a property in London located at 12, Bryanston Square there. The property is worth GBP 1.9 million. It was sold by an alleged arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, who is on the run now.
ED had a prepared a questionnaire for Vadra which contained questions about his links with the London-based property and Sanjay Bhadari.