Haryana police files FIR against Robert Vadra in land fraud case
03 Sep 2018
The Haryana police on Saturday registered a case against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, former Haryana chief minister BS Hooda and two companies – DLF and real estate firm Onkareshwar Properties - for alleged irregularities in a Gurgaon land deal.
The FIR, filed at Gurgaon’s Kherki Daula police station, pertains to alleged fraudulent transactions by Vadra's Sky Light Hospitality Private Limited.
The case was registered under IPC section 420, 467, 468, 471, 120B, 13 PC Act.
“An FIR against Vadra, Hooda and two companies – DLF and Onkareshwar Properties – has been registered at Kherki Daula police station in Gurgaon,” PTI quoted Manesar Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Kumar as saying.,
“We received a complaint today from one Surinder Sharma, resident of Nuh, in which he alleged irregularities in the land deals," he said.
In the FIR lodged on Saturday, the complainant alleged that Vadra's Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd purchased 3.5 acres of land in Gurgaon's Sector 83 from Onkareshwar Properties at a price of Rs7.50 crore in 2008 – when Hooda was chief minister and also held the portfolio of Town and County Planning Department.
Later, Skylight Hospitality sold this land to realty major DLF for Rs58 crore, after procuring a commercial licence for the development of the colony with Hooda’s influence, the complainant alleged.
He also alleged that 350 acres of land was allotted to DLF at Wazirabad in Gurgaon in violation of rules which helped the realty major gain Rs5,000 crore.
Vadra and Hooda have now been booked under Sections 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC, and Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In a statement released late on Saturday, Vadra countered the FIR by saying the government is trying to divert attention from real problems. "Election season, increase in oil prices, so let's divert people's issues with my decade-old issue. What's new?" he said.
Vadra, a day earlier, had said various allegations against him of being part of fraudulent land deals are baseless. "I am right here in the country. I have not escaped to a foreign country, have I? If there are any questions and queries, I would oblige with it," ANI quoted him as saying.
“It’s a politically motivated FIR through a private complaint. People now know this government's intentions. Elections are near and they have found nothing against us. It is just their frustration,” ANI quoted Hooda also as saying.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, however, said, “Our fight against corruption is on. Those found guilty will be punished, probe is underway by different agencies in different cases. This FIR filed by a brave citizen will also be probed.”