"Unceasing Witch-Hunt", Alleges Robert Vadra, On Land Case Summons

Robert Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, alleged an "unceasing political witch-hunt" in a statement today on social media, days after summons from the Enforcement Directorate over a land scam case in Rajasthan. "This is nothing but a politically motivated, malicious and baseless prosecution," said the 49-year-old businessman married to Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi.

He said his lawyer had been compelled to appear in Jaipur today and linked it to the Rajasthan election on Friday, in which the Congress is making a strong bid to topple the ruling BJP.

"My lawyer has been compelled to appear in Jaipur once more today (no surprise that this is just two days before the polling in Rajasthan). The authorities know perfectly well that there is no case to proceed against me. They merely want to create another media circus to distract the public," he wrote in a Facebook post, calling it "nothing but a politically-motivated, malicious and baseless prosecution". The truth, he said, will prevail someday. "It always does."

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Robert Vadra in connection with a money-laundering investigation linked to a land scam in Rajasthan's border city of Bikaner.

"The political witch-hunt carries on unceasingly with government departments clearly operating on an agenda to besmirch my dignity and reputation," Mr Vadra wrote. He said he had cooperated fully for the last 4 and a half years and "will continue to do so".

He alleged that when he responded to the previous summons by the Enforcement Directorate, his lawyer sat for three hours and handed over an exhaustive set of documents.

"It is indeed strange that I was asked for the very same documents once again even though they had already been furnished over the last few years. In fact it is even stranger that I was sent another summons within 24 hours without the agency even perusing the latest set of 600 documents supplied to them," said Robert Vadra.

The Enforcement Director is investigating allegations of forgery involved in the allotment of land in Bikaner, in an area considered sensitive due to its proximity to the India-Pakistan border.