Kamal Ghorui
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday took cognisance of charges against businessman Robert Vadra in a money laundering case linked to the Shikohpur land deal in Gurgaon, directing him and eight other accused to appear on May 16, reports Koushiki Saha.ED’s prosecution complaint (equivalent to a chargesheet), filed in July 2025, characterised the deal as a sophisticated scheme to generate and layer proceeds of crime, with Vadra as the main beneficiary. Vadra has denied any wro-ngdoing, calling the case “political vendetta” against him and his family, including his wife, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.Besides Vadra, summonses were issued to Kewal Singh Virk, Skylight Hospitality LLP, Sky Light Realty Pvt Ltd, Real Earth Estates LLP, Blue Breeze Trading LLP, North India IT Parks LLP, Lambodar Art Enterprises India LLP and SGY Properties Pvt Ltd (previously Onkareshwar Properties Pvt Ltd). The court, however, did not summon another accused, Satyanand Yajee, saying there was no material to proceed against him.The case stems from a Feb 2008 transaction in which Skylight Hospitality, where Vadra was earlier a director, purchased 3.5 acres of land in Shikohpur for Rs 7.5 crore. The company sold the land to DLF for Rs 58 crore in Sept 2012.Additional sessions judge Sushant Changotra, while examining ED’s prosecution complaint, underscored the “very narrow” scope of inquiry at this stage, saying the court was only required to broadly scrutinise the documents and satisfy itself that prima facie, there were “sufficient grounds for proceeding further with the case”.The court noted that Vadra, as the “major shareholder and primary director/partner”, had allegedly played an active role in offences under sections 3 and 4 of PMLA.
