According to a report Sonia Gandhi’s son in law, Robert Vadra, has sent legal notices to Republic Journalists Arnab Goswami and Prema Sridevi, although details are still obscure. The report claims that the legal notice has been sent because of a story which was broken by Republic TV on 25th June. The Republic TV report stated,“Serving as the first concrete action under the Narendra Modi government against Sonia Gandhi’s son in law Robert Vadra, the Income Tax Department of India has served a notice to Skylight Hospitality to pay up Rs. 25 crores in tax against undeclared income of Rs. 42 crores in 2010-2011.”
BACKGROUND:-
On 25th June, Republic TV had broken the Vadra Papers story. The story comprised of sensational 25-page order by the Income Tax Department as well as the details of the IT Notice served to Sonia Gandhi’s son in law Robert Vadra’s company Skylight Hospitality. According to Republic TV report, IT department has asked Robert Vadra’s company to pay up Rs. 25 crore to the Government of India because of 42 crores of undeclared income in the year 2010-2011. The Republic TV story further claimed that as per the Income Tax Department, Robert Vadra allegedly hid Rs. 42 crore of his company’s income when it filed its tax returns for the FY 2010-2011. The IT report also raised questions over Robert Vadra’s unexplainable sources of Robert Vadra’s skylight hospitality. The report claimed that Robert Vadra’s company carried out several transactions which could not be explained in terms of sources of income. The Republic TV story further claimed that as per the IT department, Robert Vadra’s company entered in namesake agreements with DLF which were actually no less than sale agreements. DLF extended financial support to Sonia Gandhi’s son in law despite the fact that Robert Vadra’s company lacked sufficient amount of funds on multiple occasions. The loans granted by DLF were one of the reasons which enabled Robert Vadra’s company to continue with their purchase spree.
#BREAKING: #VadraPapers with @Republic TV accessed by @premasridevi. Fraudulent transactions carried allegedly by Robert Vadra. Income tax order asking Vadra to pay up Rs. 25 crores in 30 days. 25 Page IT report accessed.
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) June 25, 2018
#VadraPapers | As the Vadra Papers cause a political storm, here are the key takeaways from the Income Tax Department order and notice in 10 pointshttps://t.co/aIGH1xZoQC
— Republic (@republic) June 25, 2018
Honest journalists often gets sued for exposing frauds and bringing the real picture to the people.
In response to Vadra’s legal notice, this is what Arnab Goswami said:
“Robert is scared. He looks like he is frightened about facts coming out in the public domain. He should come on my debate at 9 pm instead of wasting his large amounts of money on lawyers. The income tax order is with us and reporting it is our right. If he wants to take on Republic and try and stop us from reporting on him he is welcome to try his luck. I think he is worried that our reports will thwart his political ambitions”.
When News Mobile contacted Arnab Goswami and asked him about the legal notice he said, “Being sued by someone with Robert Vadra’s credentials is a badge of honour. We will expose the truth and he and his coterie must know his stunts won’t work. The truth has to and will come out.”
It’s going to be interesting to see how all this is going to proceed parallely to Robert Vadra investigations. Many people believe that Arnab Goswami can further utilize this opportunity to expose Sonia Gandhi’s son in law, Robert Vadra further and that this might turn out as huge strategic blunder on Robert Vadra’s part. It looks Vadra took such an action in desperation and frustration sensing tough times which are going to follow him. We hope he has the proofs at his disposal to prove his innocence, failing which he could probably be left helpless. But before that, we must wait and allow the picture to become more clear before speculating anymore.