A Delhi court on Saturday issued notices to businessman Robert Vadra and 10 others seeking their response to a chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case linked to a land deal in Haryana’s Shikohpur.
Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court’s special judge Sushant Changotra said he would first hear the 11 accused before deciding to take cognisance of the chargesheet. The next hearing has been scheduled on August 28.
“I am of the considered opinion that all the accused have to be given an opportunity to exercise their right to be heard on the aspect of taking cognisance,” the court said.
“Hence, issue notice to all the proposed accused persons arrayed in the complaint for hearing on the question of taking cognisance vis-à-vis the present complaint,” it added.
The ED had on July 18 filed a prosecution complaint against Vadra — the husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra — and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in a case linked to alleged irregularities in the 2008 land deal between Vadra and real-estate firm DLF.
Vadra had denied the charges and alleged a political witch-hunt by the BJP government against the Gandhi family. Besides filing the chargesheet, the ED has attached 43 immovable properties worth ₹37.64 crore pertaining to Vadra and his associated entities such as Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd and others.
The ED had alleged that Skylight Hospitality had bought a 3.5-acre plot in Shikohpur for ₹7.5 crore from farmers, allegedly through wrongful methods aided by public servants. They later allegedly sold the plot for ₹58 crore to DLF.
The Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government was in power in Haryana when the land deal took place. Haryana police registered an FIR in 2018, and the ED subsequently took over the case.