ED Files Charge Sheet Against Robert Vadra in Shikohpur Land Deal Case

NEW DELHI, July 17 – The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its first-ever charge sheet against Robert Vadra, businessman and husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in connection with a money laundering case linked to a controversial land deal in Shikohpur, Haryana, sources said on Thursday.

This marks the first time Vadra has been formally charged in a criminal case by any investigative agency. The charge sheet, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), also names several others and was submitted in a Delhi court.

The case centers on a February 2008 land transaction in Manesar–Shikohpur (now Gurugram’s Sector 83), where Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd, a company in which Vadra was once a director, bought 3.5 acres of land from Onkareshwar Properties for ₹7.5 crore. In 2012, the company sold the same land to real estate giant DLF for ₹58 crore.

At the time of the purchase, Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s Congress-led government was in power in Haryana. The deal sparked controversy in October 2012, when senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka, then director general of land consolidation, cancelled the mutation, citing violations of the state consolidation act and procedural irregularities.

Vadra has consistently denied any wrongdoing, labeling the investigation as politically motivated, and part of a vendetta against him and his family, which includes Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

In addition to this case, the ED is also investigating Vadra in two other matters — one involving UK-based arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, and another concerning a land deal in Bikaner, Rajasthan.