RAJ HC EXTENDS INTERIM RELIEF TO VADRA IN MONEY LAUNDERING CASE
JODHPUR: The Rajasthan high court on Thursday extended the interim protection from arrest to businessman Robert Vadra till January 28 in an alleged money laundering case related to a land scam in Bikaner.
On Monday, an application by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was scheduled to be heard in the high court, where ED has sought the custodial interrogation of Vadra, but the court could not take up the case for hearing due to the paucity of time.
Vadra is the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. On January 21, 2019, the court asked Vadra, a partner in Sky Light Hospitality, and his mother Maureen Vadra, to appear before ED for questioning. The court of Justice Dr Pushpendra Singh Bhati has fixed January 28 as the next date of hearing in the case, and granted Vadra and his mother interim protection from arrest till then. ED has registered an enforcement case information report (ECIR) in the alleged Bikaner land scam. In connection with the case, on December 1, 2018, it summoned Sky Light Hospitality’s partners, including Robert Vadra, for questioning, but the firm on December 18, 2018 approached the Rajasthan HC against the ED move.
The probe is related to the purchase of 275 bigha land allegedly by the company in the Kolayat area in Bikaner. The probe agency had registered a criminal case of money laundering in 2016 on the basis of FIRS filed by the state police after the local tehsildar had made a complaint.