The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today summoned Congress leader Jagdish Sharma, the self-proclaimed ‘chela’ (disciple) of Robert Vadra, Rahul Gandhi’s brother in law, in connection with an investigation under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). He has to appear before ED at its Jamnagar House office.
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In December 2018, the Enforcement Directorate had conducted raids at the offices of Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, along with other locations related to Jagdish Sharma, a close aide of Vadra.
ED sources have reportedly informed that the raids were conducted on suspects who have allegedly received bribe money from defence suppliers.
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Sharma, however, had reportedly stated, before being taken away for interrogation, that it was a conspiracy against Robert Vadra. Reports had cited Jagdish Sharma as one of the close aides of Vadra.
In fact, Sharma has always been very vocal about his proximity to Robert Vadra. In 2012 after hurling a shoe at AAP Supremo, Arvind Kejriwal, Sharma had boasted of being Vadra’s ‘Gold Buddy’. Similarly, in December 2018, Jagdish Sharma had asserted that he was “Vadra Sahab’s chela”.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate has also kept a tight noose on the Gandhi family’s son-in-law, Robert Vadra in the case where allegations of money laundering were leveled against him in the purchase of a London-based benami property at 12, Bryanston Square worth 1.9 million pounds. The property is allegedly owned by him.
Last month, a special CBI court had refused to stay Robert Vadra’s interrogation and asked him to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the ongoing money laundering probe. Similarly, earlier last month, the ED had attached Robert Vadra’s company, M/s Sky Light Hospitality (P) Ltd worth Rs 4.62 crore.
In April last year, ED had attached the properties of Vadra’ aide Jaiprakash Bagarwa in connection with the Bikaner Land Scam case. In the Bikaner Land Scam case, the land was allegedly allotted in the name of non-existent individuals by the State government officials in collusion with some real estate developers.
Vadra also has a criminal case registered against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) where his firm, Sky Light Hospitality had allegedly bought a piece of land in Kolayat and Bikaner for cheap and sold the same at an extremely high premium through illegal transactions.
Nevertheless, the web surrounding the Gandhi-Vadra family is getting more and more entangled with every passing day. In an expose´, OpIndia has recently busted the Gandhi family nexus in the dubious land deals involving Sanjay Bhandari who is allegedly a close aide of the Gandhi-Vadra family.