india

Updated: Dec 07, 2018 18:21 IST

Enforcement Directorate officials on Friday started raids at multiple locations linked to Robert Vadra in Delhi and Bengaluru, triggering a sharp reaction from the Congress that described the raids as an effort to divert the narrative. According to ANI news, ED officials had reached three locations in Delhi and some more in Bengaluru.

According to news agency PTI, the searches were being carried out at locations of Vadra’s associates over alleged commission received in defence deals.

News of the raids came within minutes of the close of polling in Rajasthan and Telangana, the last of the five states where assembly elections have been conducted over the last few weeks.

“Sure shot defeat in 5 States unnerves Modi Govt to again use the old tools - unleash revenge and vendetta against Mr. Robert Vadra to divert the narrative,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.

“Such cowardice & intimidation will not subjugate either the Congress Party or the will of people. Satyamev Jayate!,” the Congress spokesperson said.

The Enforcement Directorate had registered a criminal case in connection with the land deal in 2015, acting on a bunch of FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Rajasthan Police after a Bikaner official complained about alleged forgery in the allotment of land in the area, considered sensitive due to its proximity to the Indo-Pak border.

Vadra has’t commented on the raids but he had responded to reports of the ED summoning him over the last week.

In messages put out on social media, Vadra had underlined that he had cooperated fully with the government departments for the last four-and-a-half years and would continue to do so.

“The political witch-hunt carries on unceasingly with government departments clearly operating on an agenda to besmirch my dignity and reputation,” he alleged in a Facebook post.

“On the last occasion they summoned me for documents, my lawyer sat there for three hours and handed over an exhaustive set of documents, yet again. It is indeed strange that I was asked for the very same documents once again even though they had already been furnished over the last few years,” he said.