Robert Vadra has filed a plea for anticipatory bail at the Patiala House court in Delhi in the money laundering case he is facing.
Robert Vadra has filed anticipatory bail plea in Delhi’s Patiala House court in a money laundering case. Hearing will be held tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/zLOw1luDJn
— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2019
This move from Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law comes just days after two important middlemen in UPA era scams were extradited to India from Dubai. On the night of January 30, UAE authorities had sent AgustaWestland scam accused Rajiv Saxena and UPA era Lobbyist Deepak Talwar to India in a special flight.
Applying for anticipatory bail implies that Robert Vadra is fearing arrest by agencies soon. He is facing probes in multiple cases involving land deals and money laundering, while his close aides are also facing investigations into defence deals.
On January 8, The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a fresh money laundering case against Vadra’s firm Skylight Hospitality. The case is related to alleged irregularities in land deals in Haryana’s Gurgaon in 2008. The then Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda is also facing probe in the case.
Robert Vadra’s former executive assistant Manoj Arora is also wanted by ED in the case, and the agency has requested the court for the issuance of an open-ended non-bailable warrant against him. According to ED, Manoj Arora is aware of overseas undeclared assets of Vadra and was instrumental in arranging funds for such properties.
Emails recovered from fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari had revealed that Manoj Arora was communicating with Bhandari’s aides regarding a luxury apartment in London on behalf of Vadra.
Vadra is also facing ED probe in Bikaner land deal case in Rajasthan, and last month the Rajasthan High Court summoned him to appear before the ED after he had ignored 3 summons issued by the agency.
Robert Vadra has sought an early hearing in the case, and the Delhi court will take up the matter tomorrow.
