In a sensational story of land grab and corruption, Republic TV has uncovered an instance of land grab by Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Rahul Gandhi, from the poorest of poor in Rajasthan. Republic TV has accessed details of an alleged land grab in Bikaner over which Robert Vadra appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
According to the Republic report, the plots of land in Gajner and Kolayat of Bikaner district were allegedly snatched from the patriots. Earlier, the government procured these plots from the patriots in order to make a military range for the Indian forces. The lands were allegedly grabbed by Vadra’s company through a careful modus operandi through the use of forged papers and benami transactions with the involvement of local tehsildars and patwaris.
In 2017, police filed two charge-sheets in the alleged land snatching case in Kolayat and a total of 16 FIRs were registered in Gajner. The Enforcement Directorate has begun probing into the money laundering case, over which Vadra appeared before the ED in Jaipur on February 12.
A proper strategic approach was adopted for grabbing the land, local tehsildars and patwaris were meticulously involved in the process. Forged papers were used to allot the plot to a person who doesn’t exist. The plot was later allotted through power of attorney to others who sold it to the driver of Robert Vadra’s aide, Mahesh Naggar. Naggar then sold it to Skylight Hospitality for a sum of Rs 30 lakhs.
The ‘Land Loot’ goes like; firstly the land was allotted to Natharam (a person who doesn’t exist), then the power of attorney was given to Gugangar (aide of the land mafia), afterwards it was transferred to Rajendra Swamy (brother of the patwari), then it went to Ashok Kumar (driver of Vadra’s aide, Mahesh Nagar), and finally, it was sold to Vadra’s firm, Skylight Hospitality.
On the matter, Gurmel Singh, SHO of Gajner, said, “People of 34 villages were moved to an area nearby and were allotted land accordingly. The details (size and value) of the property of every land-owner were drafted. At that time, some fake profiles were created, accordingly allotting them land nearby. Since the profiles weren’t real, for example, a namesake Ramlal didn’t exist but, he was still allotted a piece of land using fake signatures. Further, the said ‘Ramlal’ and other fake entities sold the land to Vadra”.
Singh further spoke about the two charge-sheets which were filed in court in March 2017. Moreover, charge-sheets 77a and 76a, filed in the case, had the mentioning of Vadra’s company.
Gurmel Singh went on to add, “That was bound to happen since in the end, the land ended up with Vadra. The payment of the deal was meant only for the ‘records’. In reality, they weren’t paid. This was done simply to convert black money”.
Jagdish Singh Rathore, SHO, Kolayat also spoke about the case, adding, “Robert Vadra has maybe two plots of land in the Uddat village and the rest are in Gajner. We had 2 cases and we shared the same with CBI and ED”.
The grip of ED and other investigating agencies are tightening on Robert Vadra and it is merely the question of time when Vadra is taken to task over the alleged corruption charges.