New Delhi: A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids on the offices of Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in Delhi and the premises of his associates in Bengaluru, the investigative agency on Saturday conducted searches at the residence of Congress worker Jagdish Sharma.
Sharma, who is believed to be a close aide of Vadra, is being detained by ED and is being taken to the investigating agency's office for questioning, sources said.
Charging the NDA Government of pursuing 'political vendetta', Sharma, talking to a news channel, said,''Robert Vadra is being framed. Modi government wants to trap Robert Vadra. Searches are on at my residence. What will they get when there is nothing. They are taking me to the ED office for questioning.''
According to the sources, the raid on Friday was carried out in a case relating to a land deal in Kolayat in Bikaner district of Rajasthan in 2012.
ED officials raided the office of Mr Vadra located at Sukhdev Vihar in the capital. At the same time they also raided the premises of close associates of his in Bengaluru.The investigating agency had already issued two summons to Mr Vadra to appear before it in this case. When he did not appear, ED issued a third summons on Friday.
In September 2015, ED had filed a case against Mr Vadra's company Sky Light Hospitality under the Money Laundering Prevention Act. ED has said that Mr Vadra's company purchased 69.55 hectares of land for Rs 72 lakh and later sold it to a company for a whopping Rs 5.15 crore. Thus, the company earned a profit of Rs 4.43 crore.
Terming the Enforcement Directorate raid at Robert Vadra's office as ''political vendetta'', Congress on Friday said that unnerved over the BJP's certain defeat in the Assembly polls for five states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Government has unleashed all its agencies against its opponents.(UNI)