No clean chit has been given to Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra in an ongoing land grab case in Bikaner in Rajasthan as reported by a section of the media leading to a flutter on the social media. Reacting sharply, the state government and Bikaner police rubbished the report saying the probe against Vadra is still underway.

State home minister Gulab Chand Kataria also clarified that no such action (giving clean chit) had been taken. "There is no clean-chit given to Robert Vadra. There is no such report. The investigation is still underway, we are awaiting the result. We can't say anything until then," Kataria said.

Press reports claimed that Vadra-promoted Sky Light Hospitality had been given a clean chit in a case pertaining to charges of grabbing 69.55 hectares of land in Bikaner. The case had been lodged by the Vasundhara Raje government in 2014. The reports said Sky Light Hospitality itself was a victim of conspiracy and cheating as grabbed land was sold to it.

Deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Ramavtar Soni, whom some of these reports quoted as having said that Vadra had been defrauded and cheated in the land deal, told Mail Today that they were "false".

"It has been falsely reported that any clean chit has been given to anybody in the case. The investigation is still on and we have not yet filed a chargesheet. At this stage how can clean chits be given?" Soni said.

Many cases

Member of Parliament (MP) from Bikaner Arjun Ram Meghwal said there was no truth to such reports. "Several cases had been filed in this case that pertains to grabbing almost 70 hectare of land. The investigation into the matter is still underway and no clean chit has been given to Vadra," he said.

Of the many cases that had been registered by the Bikaner police in the alleged land grab case, four relate to the land sold to Vadra-promoted Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd.

Vadra is facing probe in cases of land grab not only in Rajasthan, but also BJP-ruled Haryana. The Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana had earlier established a single-member judicial commission presided by Justice SN Dhingra to look into allegations of murky land deals during the Bhupinder Singh Hooda regime.

The report hit the BJP by surprise as social media came alive with reactions and comments. The party had made the alleged dubious deals of Robert Vadra as a major poll issue and the report had suggested that the probe against him had ended in a whimper.

The leaders moved fast to stop the report from sending a misleading message and the state unit dispelled rumours based on a false report. Even Congress leaders were surprised as they were not expecting the development.

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