ED raids Vadra’s staff, associates
NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted raids and searches at the residences and offices of several employees and associates of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, prompting an angry response from the Congress, which accused the government of “letting loose a criminal conspiracy to vilify, denigrate, and malign” Vadra to “settle personal and political scores”.
It wasn’t immediately clear which case the raids pertained to. The Enforcement Directorate did not issue a comment related to the raids.
The Congress, in a press conference addressed by its chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, said that ED officers from Jaipur and Delhi raided Vadra’s office too.
The raids were carried out without FIRs or search war- rants, Surjewala said. The opposition party demanded immediate action against ED chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra, deputy director Jasbir Singh, and others, claiming that the raids were carried out at their behest.
Vadra’s lawyer Suzman Khaitan said separately that the officials broke locks and prevented people present on the premises from leaving. He linked the raids to “polling day in Rajasthan and Telangana” and alleged that they were an attempt to “divert attention from the main issues of the nation”. He termed the raids “illegal”.
In a related development, Haryana governor Satyadeo Narayan Arya gave post facto approval to the state police for an FIR against former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda in a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act related to the issue of land to Vadra.
The police should have taken the approval before registering the FIR, but it did not.