ED conducts raids in land grab case involving firm linked to Vadra

The Enforcement Directorate has conducted searches in multiple locations in Rajasthan in connection with its money laundering case arising out of a case of land grab in Bikaner involving a company allegedly linked to Robert Vadra.

Officials said the searches were conducted on at least seven locations in the border town of Bikaner on Thursday and the action has now ended.

ED teams examined documents allegedly related to Vadra’s company, which purchased lands and also quizzed some people, ED spokesperson A K Rawal said on Friday.

The probe is related to the purchase of 275 bigha land allegedly by the company of Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in Kolayat area of Bikaner.

The officials said the action was taken in order to gather ‘documents and hard data’ from various officials and individuals involved in the case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

It is understood that the agency will soon issue summons to some firms and people involved in the case.

The central agency registered a criminal case of money laundering in this case last year on the basis of first information reports filed by the state police after the local tehsildar had made a complaint.

The ED has not mentioned the name of Vadra or any company linked to him in the FIR but it named some state government officials and some of the ‘land mafia’.

While filing the case, it had also taken cognisance of reports that had referred to a firm allegedly linked to Vadra which had purchased some of these Bikaner located lands.

Vadra has denied any wrongdoing even as Congress party called the action ‘sheer political vendetta’.

The agency had conducted similar searches in the case in Delhi last year.

Rajasthan government had in January last year cancelled the mutation (transfer of land) 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.

Sources said the agency suspected huge amounts of money was laundered in this case by people buying land at cheap rates through forged documents.

The state government had, while cancelling the mutations, said that these were not issued by the commissioner, Colonisation, Bikaner.

The state police had also filed charge sheets in the 18 cases in a court in Kolayat last year.