PMO defends Robert Vadra, says allegations are 'false, based on hearsay'
28 Nov 2012
The prime minister's office (PMO) today strongly defended Congress party supreme Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra asserting that the allegations of land scam against him "appear to be false, vexatious and based on hearsay."
The PMO was responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Allahabad High Court against Vadra, who has been accused by Aam Admi Party founder Arvind Kejriwal of illegally amassing property worth over Rs1,600-crore in connivance with real estate major DLF.
The PIL, filed by an RTI (right to information) activist in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, has demanded an inquiry into the allegations against Vadra.
The PMO also said that it has been wrongly made party to the case and prayed that the case may not be used to order inquiries against private citizens purely on the basis of media reports and disputed facts.
According to the PMO, the PIL "is driven by a desire for publicity and seems to be actuated by political considerations rather than public interest".
The petitioner has "no knowledge of the truth" and has "not applied her mind nor conducted due diligence... to the factual and legal basis of the petition," the PMO stated.