How Robert Vadra misused his position as Sonia’s Son-in-Law ?

Robert VadraRobert Vadra reaped immense wealth by taking the advantage of the Political power he had and the Corporate Political nexus established by him.

In an investigation done by DNA newspaper, it came out that he purchased more than 770 hectares of land in Bikaner,  Rajasthan  between 2009 and 2011, the prices of whose soared by more than 40 times since then.

According to DNA, Vadra was having prior inforation about the upcoming industrial projects in the area and reaped huge profits by selling them

A clutch of investors, including Vadra, apparently privy to information on upcoming industrial projects in the vicinity, reaped huge profits with land values appreciating by up to 40 times since 2009.

Data from the office of the registrar in Bikaner shows 20 properties Vadra purchased through companies, including Real Earth Estates Pvt Ltd, North India IT Park Pvt Ltd, and Skylight Realty Pvt Ltd. All the deals were executed on his behalf by Mahesh Nagar, brother of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee member Lalit Nagar. These companies together invested Rs2.85 crore in barren land here during this period.

“Vadra clearly misused his position as the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi,” said Devi Singh Bhati, six-time MLA of the Kolayat tehsil where most of the Bikaner deals took place. “The land was purchased either in the knowledge that industrial projects would be announced, or circumstances were created to bring projects to the area.”

Just days before a memorandum of understanding was inked between the Rajasthan government and a private firm for a Rs45,000-crore project to manufacture silicon chips for the telecom industry, Mahesh Nagar — acting on behalf of another company named Blue Bridge Trading Pvt Ltd — completed two deals in Gajner village of Kolayat, home to over 15 such deals.

Bhati said a grid substation came to Gajner soon after the land deals, followed by more industries, including solar power plants promoted by the government’s solar parks policy.

Clearly, that is why Vadra did not buy the land cheap — almost all the plots were purchased at several times the government-recommended rates.

Bikaner businessman and land investor Vineet Asopa, who sold among the largest plots to Vadra, was so surprised at the ease with which he demanded and received Rs65,000 a hectare when local prices were no more than Rs30,000 a hectare that he summoned contractors for an overnight survey of whether the land was rich in minerals.They dug 80 feet deep, found only rocky surface, and Asopa went ahead with the deal. He found out only two months later that the purchaser was Vadra, whose signature was on the cheques.

At least one individual who sold land to Mahesh Nagar said the deals were done rapidly, the buyer depicting an unusual “hunger” for the land. Local MP Arjun Meghwal, too, has called for an investigation.

Taking place amid rapid land purchases in the region – local people estimate that over 3,000 hectares changed hands between 2009 and 2011 in Bikaner alone – the deals led to further speculation and more investors queuing up.

“A variety of reasons pushed prices upward in the area – the Vavasi silicon chip project and the solar parks policy, to start with,” said Hariom Garg, a local journalist-activist who wrote about Vadra’s purchases in 2010.

Nexus with DLF at Manesar

Robert Vadra owned company Sky Light Hospitality  bought  3.53-acre land  in Shikohpur in February 2008 for Rs 7.5 crore.

Between February and June 2008, Vadra’s firm secured the change of land use licence – the crucial factor which helped the land price shoot up.

Within months, Vadra entered into a sale agreement with DLF for Rs 58 crore for the same land and received the first instalment of Rs 5 crore on June 3, 2008. Subsequently, he got three more cheques of Rs 10 crore, Rs 35 crore and Rs 8 crore on March 27, 2009, November 7, 2009 and July 25, 2012 respectively.

All these payment details, including the cheque numbers, were mentioned in the sale deed which was signed and registered with the Manesar sub-registrar on September 18, 2012.

People like Vadra responsible for Inflated Real Estate Sector

Vadra had bought as many as 41 premium apartments in NCR from DLF but subsequently sold most of them at a profit. He booked apartments in three premium projects: Aralias and Magnolias in Gurgaon and Capital Greens in Moti Nagar in Delhi.

All the apartments were acquired by companies promoted by him, including Sky Light Hospitality- which had dealings with DLF- by paying a minimum booking amount, with the exception of a luxury pad in the picturesque Aralias, for which he paid the entire sum of Rs 11.9 crore upfront.

He used a part of the Rs 58-crore advance paid by DLF (for purchasing a 3.5-acre plot from him in Gurgaon) for booking these flats.

These kinds of dealings are not uncommon in the real estate industry. These are people who book huge number of apartments and then sell them when the prices go up. Vadra was only one of them, and certainly not the biggest,” said an industry source.

 He has 20% ownership in Unitech, Biggest beneficiary ownership of 2G Scam. Because of Robert’s involvement in this scam, there are concerns that investigation would never reach decisive conclusion.

He owns prime property in India specially commercial hubs, and taxi business but for Air Taxi. He owns few private planes as well.