ED summons Vadra again in money laundering case

New Delhi, Feb 18 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday in connection with the probe into a money laundering case involving a London property worth 1.9 million pound.

"He (Vadra) has been asked to appear before the agency on Tuesday at 10.30 a.m.," a senior ED official said here on Monday.

The fresh summons have come two days after a Delhi court on Saturday extended Vadra's interim bail till March 2.

Earlier, the directorate had questioned Vadra for over 24 hours in connection with the case on February 6, 7 and 9.

The case relates to ownership of undisclosed assets abroad worth 1.9 million pound, allegedly belonging to Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi, Congress General Secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh East.

He was also questioned twice by the ED in Jaipur in connection with the Bikaner land deal case.

The ED on Friday attached Rs 4.43 crore immovable property at Vadra's Sukhdev Vihar house in Delhi. The house was in the name of Vadra's company Sky Light Hospitality Private Limited.

On February 2, the court had granted Vadra interim bail till February 16 and asked him to join the investigation on February 6.

The ED had lodged a money laundering case against Manoj Arora after his role came up during the the Income Tax Department probe into another case under the 2015 anti-black money law involving absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

Arora, an employee of Vadra's Skylight Hospitality, was aware of the latter's overseas undeclared assets and was instrumental in arranging funds, the ED had alleged.

The London property was allegedly bought by Bhandari and sold in 2010 for the same amount despite incurring additional expenses on renovation.

On December 7, as part of the investigation, the ED had conducted searches at a number of premises in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.