CAG report on Vadra deals vindicates me: whistleblower Khemka

26 Mar 2015

Senior Indian Administrative Service officer Ashok Khemka today said the report of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India tabled in the Haryana assembly on Wednesday vindicated his stand that the previous Congress government in Haryana, led by then chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had shown undue favours to Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra in his controversial multi-million rupee land deal with realty giant DLF.

Khemka's reactions came a day after the CAG said that the "possibility of undue benefit being extended to a particular applicant (Vadra's company) cannot be ruled out".

It has also questioned the "distinction" made by the Hooda government for Vadra's company in giving permission for the wheeling-dealings.

Vadra's company, Skylight Hospitality, sold a prime 3.5-acre piece of land in Manesar in Gurgaon district to DLF in 2008 for Rs58 crore. The land had cost his company around Rs15 crore, and was sold to DLF after obtaining a change of land use (CLU) and other permissions from the Hooda government.

The government had obliged Vadra with quick sanction of the permissions required, the CAG said.

Ashok Khemka had ordered the scrapping of the land deal, saying that it was illegal. But he was soon victimised.

The controversy became a national issue with opposition parties alleging that the then Congress government was doing everything to help Vadra in his controversial land deals in the National Capital Region (NCR) and areas around Delhi.

Vadra had bought land in four districts of Gurgaon, Palwal, Faridabad and Mewat in Haryana adjoining Delhi.

Alleging that Vadra's land deals caused loss of crores of rupees to the state exchequer, Khemka said he had marked a probe into all land deals of Vadra and his companies since 2005. But the Hooda government gave Vadra a clean chit and instead charge-sheeted Khemka for his actions.