FIR against Robert Vadra: Complainant Surendra Sharma summoned by Gurugram Police to present evidence in land deals scam

Surendra Sharma, who filed an FIR against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra in the Gurugram land deals case, has been called for questioning by the Gurugram Police. He has been summoned by the Gurugram Commissioner of Police on Tuesday at 10 am, to present evidence, reported News18. Robert Vadra and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda were on Saturday booked by Haryana Police for alleged irregularities in land deals in Gurugram after Sharma an FIR against Vadra, Hooda and two companies  – DLF and Onkareshwar Properties. In February, Hooda and 33 others were charged by the CBI in another case of alleged corruption. That chargesheet was related to land deals in Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages of Gurugram, alleging a scam totalling Rs 1,500 crore. [caption id=“attachment_3963285” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Robert Vadra. PTI[/caption] The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had made the land deals scam a major poll issue in 2014, alleging that Vadra benefited through questionable land use permissions granted by the earlier Congress government in the state. The new FIR said that Vadra’s company Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd purchased 3.5 acres of land in Gurugram’s Sector 83 from Onkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.50 crore in 2008, when Hooda was the chief minister and also held the portfolio of the Town and Country Planning Department. Later, Skylight Hospitality sold this land to realty major DLF at a price of Rs 58 crore, after procuring a commercial licence for the development of the colony with the influence of Hooda, Sharma alleged. The company thus made a profit of about Rs 50 crore, according to the allegation which has been denied in the past by Vadra. In return, the state government allotted 350 acres of land to DLF at Wazirabad in Gurugram in violation of rules, Sharma claimed. In the alleged quid pro quo, the realty major made Rs 5,000 crore. The Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government had on 14 May, 2015, set up a one-man commission to probe the grant of licences by the Department of Town and Country Planning for developing housing and commercial colonies in Gurugram’s Sector 83. This included the alleged deals between Skylight Hospitality and DLF. The Justice SN Dhingra Commission, formed under the Commission of Inquiry Act, had examined the licences given by the then Hooda government for developing real estate in four Gurugram villages of Sihi, Shikohpur, Kherki Daula and Sikanderpur Bada. Vadra and Hooda have now been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC, and Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The complainant said the payment to Onkareshwar Properties was through a cheque, which was mentioned in the registered deed. Onkareshwar Properties never deposited the cheque, the complainant alleged. It indicated that it was a shell company, Sharma claimed in the FIR. Hooda, however, termed the new FIR as “political vendetta” on Saturday. The Congress also attacked the Modi government over the FIR. Congress’ communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala in a statement accused the government of serving a new set of “manufactured lies” through “false and fake FIRs against political opponents”. This, Surjewala alleged, was being done to divert attention from the the Rafale deal, the demonetisation “scam”, the 12 lakh crore “loot” through hike in prices of petrol and diesel, and the rapidly falling rupee and “failing” economy, among other things. With inputs from PTI