ED arrests 2 in Vadra-linked land grab case

The Enforcement Directorate has said it has arrested two persons in connection with its money laundering probe in the Bikaner land scam case, which is allegedly linked to Robert Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

One of arrested persons is Ashok Kumar, a close associate of Mahesh Nagar of Skylight Hospitality, a company linked to Vadra, which had bought 69.55 hectares of land for Rs 72 lakh and sold it to Allegeny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore, earning a huge profit of Rs 4.43 crore.

According to ED, Kumar was used as a conduit by Nagar, who allegedly knew the “fraudulent nature” of the land in question. Both Vadra and the company have denied any wrongdoing and alleged that they were themselves cheated.

The ED on December 22 said Allegeny Finlease as a company was not involved in any real business activity and many of its shareholders were found to be dummy or non-existent during investigation.

The Rajasthan government had in January 2015 cancelled the transfer of 374.44 hectares of land, after the land department claimed to have found that the allotments were made in the names of "illegal private persons".

The tehsildar had said in the complaint that the government land in 34 villages of Bikaner, to be used for expanding the Army's firing range in the area, was "grabbed" by the land mafia by preparing "forged and fabricated documents" in connivance with government officials.

On Friday, the ED said it has arrested the "main fraudsters" in the case, Jaiprakash Bagarwa and Ashok Kumar, under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. These are the first arrests in this case. They were arrested from Jaipur on Thursday night and were produced in a special court on Friday.

The ED has not mentioned the name of Vadra or any company linked to him in its FIR. In the FIR, it has named some Rajasthan government officials and the "land mafia".