New Delhi : Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been named in an Enforcement Directorate chargesheet – for the first time – over the alleged purchase and sale of five acres of land in Haryana. Her husband, businessman Robert Vadra, is also named but neither is listed as an “accused”, sources told NDTV Thursday morning.
The chargesheet was filed against CC Thampi, an NRI businessman, and Sumit Chadha, a British national of Indian origin. The ED believes they helped fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari – who is accused of violating the Official Secrets Act, among other laws – hide the proceeds of his crimes.
The agency, which is frequently charged with carrying out actions against opposition leaders on directives from the central government, has brought up Ms Gandhi Vadra’s dealings with HL Pahwa, a real estate agent based in Delhi, who sold her farmland in Faridabad in 2006 and then bought it back four years later.
Furthermore, ED sources revealed to NDTV that a house in the Amipur village of Faridabad was purportedly bought in April 2006 under the name of Ms. Gandhi Vadra and subsequently sold back to Mr. Pahwa concurrently with the land.
Robert Vadra is said to have purchased 40.8 acres of land in Amipur between 2005 and 2006 from Mr. Pahwa, the same agent from whom he reportedly sold the entire tract back to him in December 2010. After his arrest in 2020, Mr. Thampi executed a similar deal for 486 acres while he was free on bail. In previous chargesheets, the ED had named Mr. Vadra, whom the agency claims has a “long and thick relationship” with Mr. Thampi.
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