From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka Vadra have moved the Supreme Court, challenging Delhi High Court’s approval of the Income Tax Department’s decision to transfer their tax assessment to the Central Circle which is examining the 2018-19 case of arms dealeer Sanjay Bhandari, allegedly a friend of Priyanka’s husband Robert Vadra, denied by the latter.
Bhandari is an alleged middleman manipulating the country’s defence deals who has been charged with money laundering by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate. He was arrested in Britain, at present under house arrest, and efforts being made to bring him to India to ascertain under whose patronage he manipulated the defence deals.
The Income Tax Department had conducted searches and recovered the income tax papers of the Gandhi family after the investigation of former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Young Indian, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Trust, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Jawahar Bhavan Trust.
Robert Vadra’s alleged associate Sanjay Bhandari is wanted in India under the Privacy Violation Act. Cases of money laundering and tax evasion have also been registered against him, on the basis of which an appeal was made for his extradition. At present he is on bail from the British Court. His extradition is very important to know the relation of Sanjay Bhandari with the bribe of crores in some defense deals of the Congress government. Crores of rupees were sent to his bank account for these deals. Bhandari has also sued French company Thales for non-payment of commission of 90 crores.
Both Bhandari and Robert Vadra are facing cases of tax evasion and money laundering. Robert Vadra has been facing probe for land deals in Gurgaon and a few other cases in Rajasthan since the NDA government came to power in 2014. Later Vadra’s name cropped up during the ongoing investigation against Sanjay Bhandari for the purchase of properties in London and Dubai.
According to the ED, entities controlled by Bhandari bought the properties. These were later transferred to entities allegedly linked to Vadra. All the cases have been transferred to the Central Circle for a thorough investigation of this matter and to reach the bottom of the matter, against which Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have reached the Supreme Court, they say that we have nothing to do with Sanjay Bhandari.
