Robert Vadra seeking British citizenship, alleges Subramanian Swamy

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has asked the government to speed up probe into alleged illegal dealings by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, warning that Vadra is seeking British citizenship, which would make it impossible for the Indian government to hold him accountable for evading tax.

Swamy's warnings follow preliminary findings by income tax authorities that Robert Vadra owns 'benami' property in London, which was routed through controversial arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

Swamy has ''no doubt'' that the allegations against Vadra are absolutely true. He also claimed that the Enforcement Directorate has made significant progress in the probe, and that the agency is set to register a complaint against Vadra.

''ED should fast-track its probe against him because I've heard that he is trying to attain British citizenship by paying a hefty amount,'' Swamy said while speaking to India Today. Britain now allows foreigners to become a citizen if he or she invests heavily in the country.

Searches by enforcement agencies on defence dealer Sanjay Bhandari is reported to have has thrown up a flurry of documents, emails and phone call records indicating that Vadra was in the loop, although officials are yet to question many of those mentioned in the documents. The documents have thrown up the defence dealer's links with the who's who of India, as well as details of his properties in the UAE, London and the Panama Islands.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar has taken a serious view of leaking of documents midway through investigations.

Reports say the income tax documents show that in addition to being in touch with Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, Robert Vadra, Bhandari was also in contact with senior BJP and Congress leaders.

Call data records of Bhandari shows that he was in contact with BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh, who made over 450 calls to Bhandari "within a short span of time", finance ministry officials admit.

Swamy is currently in China, where he is attending the conference organised by a Beijing-based think-tank. He is also scheduled to visit the Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet.

Vadra, along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi has refuted the allegations, calling it a conspiracy.

Sonia Gandhi said the Narendra Modi government in its two years in power has been plotting against her and her family members. She also defended her son-in-law Robert Vadra over an inquiry into whether he has bought a benami house in London from the arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

"Agar aisi baat hai, toh bina bhed-bhaav jaanch karo; doodh ka doodh paani ka paani (Without any bias, lets have an investigation in the matter. The truth shall be revealed).

Instead Sonia criticised the Modi government for celebrating its success of two years – he behaves like an emperor as opposed to an elected official leader. She said, "I've never seen anything like this, Modi ji is a PM not a shehenshah"

"Our nation is facing drought, poverty, farmer is in pain; at these times a "show" is not appropriate," she added.