Businessman Robert Vadra, the husband of Congress leader and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday in connection with an ongoing probe into alleged irregularities surrounding a land deal executed by his company in 2007-08.
Vadra, who has long maintained that the case is politically motivated, described the summons as part of an orchestrated “political vendetta” designed to target both himself and his brother-in-law, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. He, however, said that he is fully cooperating with the authorities and ready to respond to all questions raised during the investigation. This was the second time this month that Vadra had been summoned by the ED.
Background of the Land Deal
The controversy revolves around a land transaction between Vadra’s company, Skylight Hospitality, and real estate giant DLF Universal Ltd. The deal came under the spotlight in 2012 after Ashok Khemka, an IAS officer from the Haryana cadre, cancelled the mutation of the land — a key step in finalising property ownership records — citing irregularities.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seized on the issue during the 2014 Haryana Assembly election campaign, launching sharp attacks on Vadra and the Congress. The party published a six-page booklet titled Damad Shree, highlighting what it called “dubious” property transactions in both Haryana and Rajasthan, and accused the Gandhi family of using its political influence to facilitate these deals while the Congress was in power at both the state and national levels.
Details of the Transaction
Vadra’s company, Skylight Hospitality, was incorporated in 2007 with an initial capital investment of ₹1 lakh. In 2008, the company purchased a 3.5-acre plot in the Manesar-Shikohpur area of Gurgaon from Onkareshwar Properties for ₹7.5 crore.
In an unusually rapid development, the property mutation was completed the very next day — a process that typically takes several months. Within just a month, the Congress-led Haryana government permitted Skylight Hospitality to develop a residential housing project on the plot, causing its market value to surge overnight.
By June 2008, DLF had struck a deal to purchase the land for ₹58 crore — an almost 700% increase in value over a matter of months. Payments were reportedly made in instalments, and the property’s ownership was officially transferred to DLF in 2012.
IAS Officer’s Intervention
Ashok Khemka, who was at the time serving as Haryana’s Director General of Consolidation of Land Holdings and Land Records, cancelled the mutation of the 3.531-acre plot on October 15, 2012, arguing that the approval process was flawed.
He pointed out that the assistant consolidation officer who had sanctioned the mutation lacked the authority to do so, especially since the area was already under consolidation proceedings as per the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948.
Khemka’s order came just days after he was transferred from his post on October 11, allegedly on the direction of then Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Official Probes and Political Fallout
Following the cancellation, the Haryana government appointed a panel of three senior IAS officers to review Khemka’s decision. In April 2013, the committee exonerated both Vadra and DLF, and controversially accused Khemka of exceeding his official powers.
When the BJP government, under Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, came to power in Haryana in 2014, it formed a single-member judicial panel headed by Justice S.N. Dhingra to probe the case.
The commission submitted a detailed 182-page report in August 2016, although its findings were never made public after former CM Hooda challenged the commission’s validity in court.
During the court proceedings, the Haryana government gave an undertaking that the report would not be published.
However, sources suggested that the Dhingra Commission found sufficient grounds for a deeper investigation, particularly highlighting Hooda’s alleged role in offering illegal benefits to close associates, which could amount to violations under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Criminal Case and Current Status
In 2018, the case took another turn when an FIR was filed against Hooda, Vadra, DLF, and Onkareshwar Properties, invoking charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, fraud, and violations under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Both Vadra and the Congress party have consistently denied any wrongdoing, insisting that the allegations are politically driven and that the transactions were fully legal.
In 2023, the Haryana government submitted an affidavit before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, stating that no rules were violated in the sale of the land from Skylight Hospitality to DLF.
According to a report filed by the Tehsildar of Manesar, the sale transaction was carried out by regulations, and the land currently stands in the name of the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSVP/HSIIC, not DLF.
The Political Dimension
For over a decade, the Vadra land deal has remained a flashpoint between the Congress and the BJP, repeatedly surfacing during election seasons and anti-corruption debates.
The case continues to be under legal scrutiny, even as both sides hold firm to their narratives, with the BJP calling it a textbook case of corruption and the Congress dismissing it as a politically motivated witch-hunt.