Robert Vadra gets protection from arrest till Feb 24 in money laundering case

New Delhi, Feb 09: The Rajasthan high court on Tuesday extended the interim protection from arrest to businessman Robert Vadra, husband of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, till February 24 in an alleged money laundering case related to land scam in Bikaner.

Justice Dr Pushpendra Singh Bhati has fixed February 24 as the next date of hearing in the case and granted Vadra and his mother interim protection from arrest till then.

An application by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking Vadra's custodial interrogation was scheduled to be heard in the high court, but the court could not take it up for want of time.

The ED has registered an enforcement case information report (ECIR) in the alleged Bikaner land scam.

The probe is related to the purchase of 275 bigha land allegedly by Skylight Hospitality Limited, the company allegedly linked to Robert Vadra, in connection with the money laundering and land-grab cases in Bikaner.

On January 21, 2019, the court had asked Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen Vadra to appear before the ED for questioning.

The Central agency had registered a criminal case of money laundering in 2016 on the basis of FIRs filed by the state police after the local tehsildar had made a complaint.