AGENCIES / NEW DELHI
Congress party has described the raids at premises of Robert Vadra’s close associates in Delhi-NCR & Bengaluruas as an effort to divert the narrative.
Party accused the government of indulging in vendetta sensing defeat in state polls.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the ED, besides raiding Mr Vadra’s office in the national capital, also carried out searches in residence of his associate, his sister and her in-laws in Noida (Uttar Pradesh), without any search warrant.
“Politics of revenge and malicious vendetta has today reached its nadir. Modi is acting like a don lording over a criminal empire to persecute and hound everyone opposed to him,” Mr Surjewala said.
Mr Vadra’s lawyer Suman Khetan alleged that the ED officers did not show any search warrant and said premises of his client have been raided in a brazen affront to the rule of law and to the Constitution.
According to medai reports the Enforcement Directorate, ED, has conducted searches against three persons linked to Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, for allegedly receiving commissions in defence deals and stashing illegal assets abroad.
This is for the first time that Vadra’s associates have been linked to alleged commissions received in defence deals by the ED.
The raids, that began around 12 noon yesterday, were carried out at multiple premises in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.
The ED, however, did not disclose the names of the people whose premises were searched or the defence deal under their scanner stating that the search action was ongoing.
The raids come three days after the CBI extradited Christian James Michel, the alleged middleman in 3,700 crore rupees Agusta Westland VVIP chopper deal.