Businessman Robert Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, was questioned for the second consecutive day on Wednesday by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an ongoing money laundering investigation linked to a 2008 Haryana land deal.
Vadra arrived at the ED headquarters, located at Pravartan Bhawan on APJ Abdul Kalam Road in New Delhi, at around 11 am.
Accompanying him was his wife, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress Member of Parliament representing Wayanad in Kerala. Before entering the agency’s office for questioning, the couple was seen embracing each other, following which Vadra proceeded inside while Priyanka waited in the visitors’ lounge.
She remained at the agency premises until around 1:10 pm, when Vadra was allowed to leave for lunch. The couple departed the ED office together and Vadra later returned to continue his interaction with investigators.
Before entering the agency’s office, Vadra briefly addressed the media and said, “We are not afraid of anyone. We are being targeted because we are relevant.”
Reaffirming his willingness to cooperate with the authorities, he added, “I am not going to flee the country. I am here to answer all questions, and I have no objections to how many agencies are involved.”
According to sources within the ED, Vadra was questioned for approximately five hours on Tuesday, during which his statement was recorded under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
He reportedly reiterated that he had already fully cooperated with the probe over several years.
Expressing frustration at the repeated summons, Vadra told news agency ANI that he was surprised to receive the fresh notice, as he had already appeared before the agency no fewer than 15 times in connection with the same case.
“I have already been questioned for over 10 hours and submitted nearly 23,000 documents,” he said. “In fact, I even presented the agency with records from 2019 which show that the questions being asked today are the same ones I answered years ago. Even the officials were surprised.”
Vadra, 56, characterized the ED’s ongoing scrutiny as an example of “political vendetta,” asserting that the public’s faith in investigative bodies had eroded.
He insisted that there must be a logical closure to cases which, in his words, have dragged on for nearly two decades despite his full cooperation.
The money laundering case revolves around a land transaction carried out in February 2008, when Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd — a company in which Vadra was previously listed as a director — purchased a 3.5-acre plot of land in Shikohpur, located in the Manesar sector (now designated as Sector 83) of Gurugram, Haryana.
The land was acquired from Onkareshwar Properties for ₹7.5 crore.
At the time of the purchase, the state was under the governance of the Congress-led administration headed by then-Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Four years later, in September 2012, Skylight Hospitality sold the same parcel of land to real estate giant DLF Ltd for a reported sum of ₹58 crore, generating significant profit.
The transaction became the subject of public controversy in October 2012 after senior bureaucrat Ashok Khemka, then serving as Haryana’s Director General of Land Consolidation and Land Records and Inspector-General of Registration, intervened to cancel the mutation of the property. Khemka cited violations of the Haryana Consolidation Act and other procedural irregularities as the basis for his decision.
The incident sparked a political firestorm, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana at the time alleging widespread “corruption” in land dealings. BJP leaders also accused the Congress-led state government of “nepotism,” highlighting Vadra’s relationship to the Gandhi family.
The case was formally taken up for criminal investigation in 2018, when the Haryana Police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against multiple parties linked to the deal.
Since then, Vadra has faced multiple rounds of questioning from the Enforcement Directorate, not only in this particular land deal but also in relation to at least two other money laundering probes.
Despite the repeated interrogations, Vadra has consistently maintained that the investigations are politically motivated and aimed at maligning his image and that of the Congress party.
He insists that he has always complied with legal procedures, submitted all relevant documentation, and has nothing to hide.