ED questions Robert Vadra in UK-based fugitive Sanjay Bhandari money laundering case

Businessman Robert Vadra, husband of senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi on Monday in connection with a money laundering investigation linked to UK-based fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

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A senior ED officer confirmed to The Tribune that Vadra, 56, arrived at the agency’s office around 11 am and is currently being questioned.

Vadra had earlier skipped two ED summons—on June 10, citing ill health, and on June 17 due to overseas travel for his daughter’s graduation.

The probe forms part of a wider investigation into Bhandari, who fled India in 2016 after Income Tax raids and is now based in the UK.

The ED registered a case against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in February 2017, following an I-T charge sheet under the anti-black money law.

The agency filed its first chargesheet against Bhandari in 2020 and has also been probing his alleged links with Vadra since then.

In a supplementary charge sheet filed in 2023, the ED alleged that Bhandari “acquired” a property at 12, Bryanston Square, London in 2009 and renovated it “as per the directions of Vadra”.

Vadra has consistently denied any ownership of association with the London property, calling the case a “political witch-hunt” aimed at harassing him for political reasons.

Recently, a Delhi court declared Bhandari a fugitive economic offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA), 2018.