The Congress party would have thought that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation scandal would be like any other scandals that the party has been embroiled in previously, and that absolutely no concrete action would be taken against them for their misadventures, and them blatantly siphoning of money, not to mention their accepting large funds from the Chinese Communist Party’s various arms would go unpunished. The Modi government, however, has other plans.
Earlier, the Union Home Ministry led by Amit Shah had set up an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate investigations into alleged violation of regulations by three trusts linked to the Gandhi family, namely: Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.
Now, it has been reported that consequent to an official communication by the Union Government, the Haryana government has ordered a probe into assets owned by the Gandhi-Vadra family in the state. Haryana chief secretary Keshni Anand Arora has asked Haryana urban local bodies department to investigate the assets linked to the Gandhi family.
The Haryana Chief Secretary has sent three communications to the additional chief secretaries, besides asking the Urban Local Bodies Department to list the properties and other assets owned by the Nehru-Gandhi family, reported India Today.
The probe is also on for allotment of an institutional plot in Gurugram for setting up a hospital, alleged re-allotment of an institutional plot in the name of Associated Journals Limited and certain sale deeds involving Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. This comes in the backdrop of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation scandal exposing various irregularities, which included the diversion of funds from the PMNRF to RGF under UPA’s rule. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been tasked with investigating the scandal and bringing the culprits to justice.
As for the Haryana connection to the various namesake foundations and trusts being run by the Congress for mere money-making and whitening of cash, it has now been revealed that various assets were acquired by the Gandhi-Vadra family between 2004 and 2014 when Bhupendra Singh Hooda was the Chief Minister of the state and the Congress was in power. Bhupendra Singh Hooda had allotted a plot in Panchkula to Associated Journals Limited on 23-year-old rates, no less than six months after he became chief minister of the state in 2005.
Associated Journals Limited (AJL) is the same company which published the National Herald newspaper in English, Qaumi Awaz in Urdu and Navjeevan in Hindi until 2008. According to a complaint filed with the court of Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi, Associated Journals Limited (AJL) took an interest-free loan of ₹90.25 Crore from the Indian National Congress. According to Dr Subramaniam Swamy, who is pursuing the case, the loan was never repaid, and instead, the capital was grossly misappropriated by Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul Gandhi.