Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleges that the news about the notice to husband Robert Vadra's firm has been leaked by the government. (File photo)
Highlights
- Robert Vadra's firm asked to respond to money-laundering charges
- Vadra firm bought land in Bikaner in Rajasthan in 2010
- Land deal was illicit, forged documents used: investigators
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whose mother and brother are the top two leaders of the Congress, confirmed today that her husband
Robert Vadra has been formally asked to explain a land deal in Rajasthan supposedly used for vast money-laundering when the Congress was in power at the Centre and in the state.
"Apparently we received it (the notice) at 4 PM today but you received it a day before," said Ms Gandhi Vadra, alleging that the news had been leaked to reporters by the government.
Ms Gandhi Vadra's mother, Sonia Gandhi is the president of the Congress. Older brother Rahul is No 2 in the party, which has been unable to beat a trend of losses since he took charge of its electoral campaigns starting with the general election in 2014.
Mr Vadra is a controversial entrepreneur who is being investigated in Haryana and Rajasthan for allegedly benefitting from his family's considerable influence with sweetheart real estate deals for his firm, Skylight Hospitality.
The Congress and the Gandhis have described the investigations against him as a political witch-hunt.
In Rajasthan, his firm allegedly bought about 70 acres of land in Bikaner in 2010 for 70 lakhs according to investigators and sold it three years later for about five crores. The BJP government which replaced the Congress in the state election two years ago, says the land was first grabbed by local mafia and then sold with "forged and fabricated documents" in connivance with then government officials.
The land had been acquired from farmers who were told that it was needed for a firing range for the Army.