Delhi court issues notice to Robert Vadra in land deal case

New Delhi, Aug 2 A Delhi court has issued a notice to businessman Robert Vadra, husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in connection with a money laundering case linked to a land deal in Haryana’s Shikohpur, seeking his response before taking cognisance of the prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Special Judge (PC Act) Sushant Changotra passed the order on a complaint filed by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), which includes money laundering charges against Vadra, his firm Sky Light Hospitality, Satyanand Yajee, Kewal Singh Virk, and Blue Breeze Trading LLP. Section 223(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) mandates that no court shall take cognisance of a complaint without giving the accused an opportunity to be heard.

“The proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 223 imposes a bar on the Court’s power to take cognizance, stipulating that no cognizance of an offence shall be taken by the Magistrate without affording the accused an opportunity of being heard,” the court observed, referring to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Kushal Kumar Agarwal v. Directorate of Enforcement (2025).

"Issue notice to all the proposed accused persons arrayed in the complaint for hearing on the question of taking of cognisance," the order said, directing that the complaint and accompanying documents be shared digitally to the proposed accused persons.

Further, the court order noted that it is not mandatory to examine the complainant and witnesses at the pre-summoning stage, as the complaint has been filed by the ED’s Assistant Director.

“Section 223 of BNSS provides that the Magistrate need not examine the complainant and the witnesses at the pre-summoning stage. Therefore, there is no requirement of examining the complainant and other witnesses at this stage,” the order added. The matter will now be heard on August 28, 2025. Last week, the Rouse Avenue Court reserved its decision on issuing a notice to businessman Vadra, son-in-law of former Congress President Sonia Gandhi after ED claimed that Vadra's Skylight Hospitality “fraudulently” purchased 3.53 acres of land situated in the village of Shikohpur in Haryana's Gurugram district for Rs 7.5 crore from Onkareshwar Properties through “false declaration”.

Advocate Zoheb Hossain, appearing for the ED, had stated that the sale deed falsely declared a payment of Rs 7.5 crore, whereas in reality, no such payment was made.

This amount was paid at a later stage to evade stamp duty, a fact that has been confirmed by key witnesses, added Hossain.

Further, the federal anti-money laundering agency claimed that Vadra, “through his personal influence”, obtained a commercial license on the land purchased. As per the ED, the land was later sold to DLF at a higher price, and this aspect of the case is still under investigation.

In April this year, Vadra was questioned in multiple rounds by the ED, during which his statement was also recorded.

The land purchase deal in question was executed in February 2008 when Congress was at the helm in Haryana, and Bhupinder Singh Hooda was the chief minister.

The mutation process, which usually takes months, was done the next day. Months later, Vadra received a permit to develop a housing society on the land, and the value of the plot increased.

He sold it to DLF in June at Rs 58 crore. Suspecting the proceeds to be part of a money laundering scheme, the ED has been probing the trail behind the windfall gains.

In October 2012, IAS officer Ashok Khemka (now retired), who was then posted as the Director General of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration of Haryana, cancelled the land purchase deal, citing procedural irregularities.

Later in 2013, an in-house government panel gave a clean chit to both Vadra as well as DLF.

When the BJP-led government came to power, an FIR was registered by the Haryana Police against former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Robert Vadra and others.

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