New Delhi, July 17 — The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a charge sheet against businessman Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, in a money laundering case linked to a controversial land deal in Haryana’s Shikohpur.
The prosecution complaint was submitted before Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It names 11 accused, including Vadra, his firm Sky Light Hospitality, Satyanand Yajee, Kewal Singh Virk, and Onkareshwar Properties.
According to the ED, Sky Light Hospitality “fraudulently” acquired 3.53 acres of land in Shikohpur, Gurugram, for ₹7.5 crore using a “false declaration.” The agency alleges Vadra used his “personal influence” to obtain a commercial license for the land soon after the purchase.
The ED further revealed that 43 immovable properties worth ₹37.64 crore linked to Vadra and his companies were attached on Wednesday. Vadra, who is married to Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, was questioned earlier this year by the ED, and his statements were recorded over multiple sessions.
The land deal, executed in February 2008, took place during the Congress-led government in Haryana under then-Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Remarkably, the land mutation was completed the next day. A few months later, Vadra secured permission to develop a housing project on the land and subsequently sold it to real estate giant DLF for ₹58 crore.
Suspecting illicit gains, the ED has been investigating the transaction’s money trail. Notably, in 2012, senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka cancelled the deal over alleged procedural violations. However, a 2013 internal probe cleared both Vadra and DLF of wrongdoing.
After the BJP came to power in Haryana, a fresh FIR was filed in connection with the deal, naming Vadra, Hooda, and others. The case remains under judicial scrutiny.
