Targeted for being part of Gandhi family, will soon join politics: Robert Vadra
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New Delhi (PTI): Robert Vadra, businessman and brother-in-law of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday claimed he is being targeted by probe agencies as he is part of the Gandhi family and that things would have been different had he been part of the BJP.
Vadra, whose wife Priyanka Gandhi made her electoral debut last year, said he is almost an activist now and will soon join politics as he has been working with people since 1999.
The businessman, who was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the second straight day on Wednesday in a 2008 Haryana land deal-linked money laundering case, said he is being asked the same questions.
He said all this is being done even after the Haryana government has given him a clean chit in the case.
The 56-year-old Vadra reached the ED office around 11 am accompanied by his wife and Congress MP from Wayanad Priyanka Gandhi. He was allowed to go home for lunch around 1:10 pm. The questioning is expected to continue after the lunch break.
"I am part of the Gandhi family, who always fights for the people. Obviously, the BJP has to go for (target) the Gandhi family and me. They have also charge-sheeted my family -- my mother-in-law Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
"The more you trouble us, the stronger we become... We will fight anything that comes our way," Vadra told PTI.
He said he and his family are one unit and such instances only strengthen his relationship with his wife.
It is very unfortunate that probe agencies are being "misused" by the government, he said.
"I feel that people don't believe in the agencies anymore because everyone in the country has realised that the ED and other agencies are being misused to put pressure on those who expose the government's wrongdoings. The government is trying to create a divide between Hindus and Muslims. All of this is done to distract from the real issues," he charged.
Vadra said he has become the voice of the people and will continue to fight.
"They can see I have become the voice of the people. I am almost like an activist now. This happened because I responded to the government and continue to fight back against the constant false accusations made against me. The people are with me, I serve them. People would like to see me in politics," he said.
Vadra said he has been campaigning and working for people since 1999.
"If I was to be in politics, I want to make a change. Yes, there will be a time when I will definitely be in politics. And I know that the truth will prevail," he asserted.
"Everybody who is hopeful of becoming a chief minister or wants to join politics is always troubled by agencies unless you join the BJP... No BJP leader or minister will be summoned by the agencies," he claimed.
Vadra said the BJP's Haryana government has given him a clean chit in the case as "no wrongdoing has happened".
"I don't understand what this is about and asking me the same kind of questions. I have answered all these questions in 2019. The case pertains to 2008 and why this delay of 17 years," he said.
The probe against Vadra is linked to a land deal in Haryana's Manesar-Shikohpur (now Sector 83) in Gurugram.
As part of the February 2008 land deal, Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd, where Vadra was a director earlier, purchased 3.5 acres of land in Shikohpur from Onkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.5 crore.
A Congress government led by chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was in power in Haryana at that time.
In September 2012, Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd sold this 3.53 acres of land to realty major DLF for Rs 58 crore.
The land deal ran into controversy in October 2012 after IAS officer Ashok Khemka, then posted as the director general of land consolidation and land records-cum-inspector general of registration of Haryana, cancelled the mutation, categorising the transaction as violative of state consolidation Act and some related procedures.
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Man publicly assaulted, called ‘Pakistani’, dies by suicide; Journalist accused, police launch hunt
Latur: A 30-year-old man in Maharashtra's Latur allegedly died by suicide after being publicly assaulted and called a “Pakistani” during a road rage incident. The accused, reportedly a local journalist, is currently absconding.
According to the FIR registered by MIDC Latur Police Station, the incident occurred on the night of May 3. The victim, Amir Pathan, was allegedly attacked by the motorist, who identified himself as a journalist and questioned whether Pathan was from Kashmir or Pakistan. The assault was reportedly filmed by the assailant, who threatened to circulate the footage on social media.
Pathan’s wife, Samrin, who works as a deputy manager in a private bank in Dharashiv, said she was on a phone call with her husband when the incident occurred near Sanvidhan Chowk. She overheard the confrontation and heard her husband pleading and screaming in pain. Rushing to the spot, she noted the registration number of the assailant’s car — MH24 BR 7008 — but the accused had fled the scene by the time she arrived.
In her statement, Samrin said that the threat of public humiliation left her husband deeply traumatised. “He said he was an Indian, but the accused insulted him, calling him a Pakistani. He feared the video would be made public,” she recounted. The next day, Pathan was reportedly seen repeatedly checking the internet to see if the video had surfaced.
On May 4, while the family was preparing to attend a wedding, Pathan stayed back. When his family returned home, they found him hanging by a dupatta. He was rushed to a private hospital and later referred to the government hospital, where he was declared dead.
Based on Samrin’s complaint, police registered a case of abetment to suicide on May 5. However, the FIR has so far listed the accused as an "unknown person." Samrin’s father, Attaullah Pathan, expressed dissatisfaction, stating, “We gave the police the car number and name, but they still booked an unknown person.”
“There was no suicide note,” confirmed Latur SP Somay Munde. “We have registered a suicide abetment case based on the wife’s statement. Investigations are ongoing and efforts are being made to trace the accused.”
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