Public memory may be short.
Robert Vadra has been embroiled in a questionable land deal case in Haryana since 2012. Initially it was Arvind Kejriwal (before the launch of AAP) who had accused Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law of buying 31 properties in and around New Delhi at prices much lower than the market rate using DLF's unsecured loans.
Being lucky is just the 'beginning' – you need benevolent benefactors too.
Robert Vadra had all of it. Arguably even his initial investment came from someone else. Robert Vadra companies allegedly or understandably made crores from other people’s money.
Moreover, Sonia Gandhi was presumably the most powerful person in the country in the UPA era and hence Robert had all the blessings and fortunes especially in two Congress-ruled states Haryana and Rajasthan.
Robert Vadra and DLF were the beneficiary builders in Hooda's regime. vadra has bought properties using unsecured loans from DLF.
After BJP government came to power in Haryana, the "Justice Dhingra Commission" was formed in 2015 to investigate the scam. Dhingra Commission indicted Hooda.
The Commission's report states that there was collusion aimed at benefiting Vadra's company Skylight Hospitality, and it sought further inquiry.
Consequently, the case was handed over to CBI for the further investigation.
"In 2008-09, Vadra’s Sky Light Hospitality bought 3.5 acres of land in Manesar, Haryana. In its balance sheet, Sky Light valued this plot at Rs 15.38 crore. But, DLF–a real estate behemoth founded in 1946–immediately valued it at Rs 58 crore and gave Rs 50 crore as advance for this land," says a report in 'India Today'.
According to a statement by the company, “DLF agreed to buy the said plot, given its licencing status and its attractiveness as a business proposition, for a total consideration of Rs 58 crore.
As per normal commercial practice, the possession of the said plot was taken over by DLF in FY 2008-09 itself and a total sum of Rs 50 crore given as advance in instalments against the purchase consideration.”
This deal is currently under the ED scanner and Vadra is facing charges of money laundering in a Haryana court.
And how did Sky Light arrange the Rs 15.38-crore required for buying the land?
The company, with a share capital of a mere one lakh, got an overdraft of Rs 7.94 crore from Corporation Bank, shown as a liability in the company’s balance-sheet for the financial year 2007-2008.
The Corporation Bank is state-run and was later merged.
Why would someone like Robert Vadra buy vast stretches of wasteland in this godforsaken desert that yields nothing except red ants, dhatura shrubs and desert lizards?
Many summers before Vadra’s team of land hunters, led by Mahesh Nagar, a Faridabad resident related to a Congress leader in Haryana, started scooping up land in Bikaner, the then Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, announced that solar and wind power are the future of energy. This was followed by the National Solar Mission that allowed private investors to set up independent solar power projects.
Bids for solar power projects in Rajasthan were invited in two batches between 2010 and 2011. The winning bids varied from Rs. 7.49/kWh to Rs. 12.76/kWh.
In the highly competitive solar-power sector, the success of a power project depends on two things–the availability of sunlight, and the proximity of a project to a grid service station.
Bikaner, sitting in the heart of the Thar Desert, has abundant sunlight. And between 2009 and 2011, Vadra’s network of companies had purchased abundant land strategically located near grid stations.
"Necessity is the mother of price rise," says 'India Today' article.
Once investors successfully bid for a power project, they needed land close to a grid station to keep transmission cost at the bare minimum. And they were willing to pay the price for this convenience.
His companies made huge profits, selling land at 45 times the purchase cost
During the summers, Bikaner, the bhujia capital of India, is like hell's own furnace. Temperature in this western Rajasthan city, founded by Rao Bika in 1488 amid arid plains dotted with sand dunes, often rises up to 50 degrees, melting everything under its tyrannical sway.
In the dry, searing heat, exposed parts of human skin turn charcoal-black and get buried under layers of grainy sand that flies around all day and night.
In the months leading up to the summer of 2011, when India won the ODI world cup, prices of barren land in Bikaner started going up like an untreated fever. News had spread that someone in Delhi was buying in bulk, and was willing to pay exorbitant amounts for sterile land.
Vineet Asopa, a local businessman and investor, got a surprise deal that made him rub his sand-crusted eyes in disbelief. The ‘Delhiwalas’, as they were called then, were ready to pay him Rs 65,000 per hectare (3.95 acres) against the going rate of less than 25,000.
For a brief period, Asopa was convinced that his land had hidden oil reserves or some precious minerals. But, when dug up several feet it yielded nothing.
So, he sold it for Rs 65,000 per hectare with glee. Only when the cheque for the deal arrived, he realised something big was cooking -- it was signed by Robert Vadra, son-in-law of then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Datelines and References
November 2007: Skylight Hospitality floated by Robert Vadra with 1 Lakh equity capital
February 2008:
Company registered purchase of 3.531 acres of agriculture land in Shikohpur, Sector 83, Gurgaon and a payment of Rs. 7.5 crores is made to Omkareshwar Properties allegedly using false cheque, the deed claims Rs 45 lakh stamp duty was paid to Skylight Hospitality.
March 2008:
Letter Of Intent issued by the licensing authority, Director Town and Country Planning Haryana, the LoI issued within just 18 days of the application made
June 2008:
DLF Developers advances separate payments of Rs 6.5 crore, Rs 1 crore and Rs. 0.55 crore to Skylight Hospitality.
June 2008:
Land with commercial colony license permission for 2.701 acres sold to DLF for Rs. 58 crores.
August 2008:
Collaboration Agreement dated 5.8.2008 entered into between Skylight Hospitality and DLF Retail Developers to develop a commercial complex at site.
November 2008: Application for commercial colony license made
December 2008: Commercial colony license granted
January 2011: License renewed
April 2012: License Permitted to be transferred.
May 2015:
A one-man Commission, headed by Justice S. N. Dhingra, was set up by the Khattar government to investigate a mutation of land deal between Vadra's firm Skylight Hospitality and realty major DLF.
August 2016:
The Dhingra Commission submits an 182-page report to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar
April 2017: S N Dhingra Commission has concluded that Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, made unlawful profits worth Rs 50.5 crore from a Haryana land deal in 2008, without spending any money.
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