The Enforcement Directorate on Monday questioned Robert Vadra, businessman and brother-in-law of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to two London property deals.
The probe pertains to two properties at 12 Bryanston Square and Grosvenor Hill Court, 13 Bourdon Street in London, owned by UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari. The ED, which has alleged the two are benami properties of Vadra, is also probing his alleged links to Bhandari.
A Delhi court has already declared Bhandari a fugitive economic offender, a tag that allows the ED to attach his properties worth ₹655 crore.
Vadra has denied the allegations and claimed he is being “hounded and harassed” by the ED.
The 56-year-old Vadra arrived at the federal probe agency’s office in central Delhi around 11am. He was accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, his wife and MP from Kerala’s Wayanad.
The businessman’s statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, sources said.
“The agency is also probing the benami transactions linked to Bhandari, who is wanted on charges of tax evasion and money laundering. He is also being probed by the income tax department and the CBI for violations ranging from foreign exchange laws to the Official Secrets Act,” an ED official said.
Bhandari, 63, fled to London in 2016, soon after the income tax department raided his premises in Delhi.
Two extradition requests against him in the UK were blocked earlier this year by a British court. The pleas had cited potential mistreatment in Indian prisons.
The ED had filed a chargesheet in 2023 alleging that Bhandari acquired the 12, Bryanston Square house in 2009 and got it renovated “as per the directions of Robert Vadra, who provided the funds for the renovation”.
Vadra has denied that he owns any London property directly or indirectly and termed the charges a “political witch hunt”.
The agency had questioned Vadra for three consecutive days in April in a separate money-laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in a 2008 land deal in Haryana.