Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday claimed that the Enforcement Directorate chargesheet against his brother-in-law, Robert Vadra, in an alleged money laundering case was part of a “witch hunt” orchestrated by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government.

Gandhi’s statement came a day after the Enforcement Directorate named Vadra, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s husband, in an alleged case linked to a 2008 land deal in Gurugram, reported The Indian Express. The central agency has also attached 43 immovable properties linked to Robert Vadra and his firms.

“My brother-in-law has been hounded by this government for the last ten years,” Gandhi, the leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, said in a post on X on Friday. “This latest chargesheet is a continuation of that witch hunt.”

The Congress leader added: “I stand with Robert, Priyanka, and their children as they face yet another onslaught of malicious, politically motivated slander and harassment.”

He said that he believed his family was “brave enough to withstand any kind of persecution” and expressed confidence that “the truth will eventually prevail”.

The Enforcement Directorate’s chargesheet against Robert Vadra is the first instance of a prosecution complaint being filed against the 56-year-old in a criminal case, PTI reported.

On Thursday, Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala also described the case as an attempt at “witch hunting” by the Narendra Modi government.

“There is not an iota of illegality or whisper of a crime” in the Shikohpur land deal, the Congress leader claimed.

“Since when have sale and purchase of property (3.5 Acres of land in this case) have become illegal or criminal,” Surjewala asked.

Earlier in the day, Robert Vadra’s office had also stated that the Enforcement Directorate’s case was “nothing more than an extension of the political witch hunt by the present government”, The Indian Express reported.

The case

The ED’s chargesheet is based on a first information report filed by Gurugram Police on September 1, 2018, The Indian Express reported.

The FIR alleged that in 2008, Vadra, through his company Skylight Hospitality, fraudulently purchased 3.53 acres of land in Shikohpur village of Gurugram’s Sector 83 from Onkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.5 crore.

Vadra later secured approval from the Haryana Town and Country Planning Department to develop a commercial colony on the land. A few months later, real estate giant DLF Group agreed to purchase the plot for Rs 58 crore – a seven times jump in the plot’s value

The alleged transaction took place when the Congress was in power in the state, with Bhupinder Singh Hooda serving as the chief minister.

In 2018, a case was registered at the Kherki Daula police station in Gurugram against Vadra, Hooda, Onkareshwar Properties and Skylight Hospitality on charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and corruption.

They were booked under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using a forged document or electronic record as genuine) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act (criminal misconduct by a public servant)

The FIR was based on a complaint by Surender Sharma, a resident of Rathivas village in Haryana’s Nuh district. Sharma had alleged that Vadra “conspired with influential builders, ministers and top government officers, misused their positions and committed a scam worth Rs 5,000 crore”.

In 2023, the Haryana government told the Punjab and Haryana High Court no rules were violated in Vadra’s land deal with DLF.

Also read: After Rs 170 crore to BJP, real estate firm DLF got ‘clean chit’ in Vadra deal from Haryana