Robert Vadra, who is currently being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a land deal, on Wednesday, said that he would cooperate and not run away to some other country, adding that the process should be fair and legal.

“I haven’t done any wrong. We are not above the law, we are very much with the law. I am an Indian citizen and I am not running away anywhere,” Vadra, son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi said.

Advertisement

He further said that “he will not allow his name to be used for political blackmailing”, adding that “he was not running away or going to live in some other country”.

Enforcement Directorate officials on Friday started raids at multiple locations linked to Robert Vadra in Delhi and Bengaluru in connection with its probe into alleged “commissions received by some suspects in defence deals” and illegal assets stashed abroad.

Claiming that the raids on him were totally false and politically motivated, Vadra said, “We have replied to every notice. But my family is under stress, mother is unwell, my premises was ransacked and locks broken. Everything should be done legally, we have always been cooperating”.

According to a PTI report, the searches were carried out against three people linked to Robert Vadra.

This is for the first time that Vadra’s associates have been linked to alleged commissions received in defence deals by the Enforcement Directorate.

“The searches were carried out at the premises of two employees of firms linked to Vadra and another person. These people are suspected to have received commissions out of a defence deal and they subsequently invested these funds to procure illegal assets abroad,” ED sources claimed.

The raids come three days after the CBI extradited Christian James Michael, the alleged middleman in Rs 3,700 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.

The Enforcement Directorate had registered a criminal case in connection with the land deal in 2015, acting on a bunch of FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Rajasthan Police after a Bikaner official complained about alleged forgery in the allotment of land in the area, considered sensitive due to its proximity to the Indo-Pak border.

The Congress party reacted sharply on the ED’s action and said an “unnerved” Modi government was unleashing “vendetta” against party chief Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law to divert the narrative.

“Sure shot defeat in 5 States unnerves Modi Govt to again use the old tools – unleash revenge and vendetta against Mr. Robert Vadra to divert the narrative,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter.

(With PTI inputs)