Raids on Vadra aides

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday swooped down on an office of Robert Vadra -- the brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi -- and the residences of his associates in the national capital region. The teams also simultaneously searched properties of the businessman's aides in Bengaluru.

It is claimed that the raids were in connection with RD’s probe into alleged "commissions received by some suspects in defence deals" and illegal assets stashed abroad.

This is for the first time that Vadra's associates have been linked to alleged commissions received in defence deals by the Enforcement Directorate. Significantly, the raids have come three days after the CBI extradited Christian James Michael, the alleged middleman in Rs 3,700 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.

The searches left Vadra's lawyer Suman Jyoti Khaitan fuming. He alleged that the ED teams entered the premises without ‘‘search warrants".

‘‘It was completely illegal. They did not even wait for the staff to open my client's office despite being required by the law to do so. They illegally broke the locks and entered the office. They also broke open the locks of all the cabins in the office. ED officers have been inside the office since 8-9 am, but they have permitted neither lawyers nor representatives into the office," he claimed in a Facebook post.

Khaitan went on to claim that probably evidence was being fabricated.

The Congress reacted to the raids soon afterwards, claiming that the BJP was resorting to unsporting activities in the face of an impending defeat in the ongoing assembly polls. "Sure-shot defeat in 5 states unnerves Modi govt; unleashing revenge and vendetta against Robert Vadra to divert narrative," the party said in a tweet. Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also questioned the timing of the raids.

"The Enforcement Directorate has done a damn fine job taking attention away from the exit polls, maha polls & polls of polls," he tweeted.

The ED officials later clarified that no raids had been conducted on Vadra. (Input PTI)