Robert Vadra gets two more weeks to reply to plea on pre-arrest bail

The Delhi High Court has granted two weeks to businessman Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, to respond to the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea challenging his anticipatory bail in a money-laundering case.

Justice Chander Shekhar granted two weeks' time to Vadra and posted the matter for further hearing on September 26. Vadra's counsel said he was abroad when the court's notice on the petition was served on him when he returned on July 11.

Vadra was in the US and the Netherlands for six weeks for medical treatment.

He is facing allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a property in London at 12, Bryanston Square, worth 1.9 million pounds. The ED has claimed that the property has been purchased through absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari. In the past, Vadra has denied any association with any property in London.

The ED, in its plea, has challenged a trial court's order, which granted Vadra anticipatory bail. The probe agency has sought to cancel the anticipatory bail on grounds that it required his custody as he was not cooperating in the investigation.

The plea, filed through ED prosecutor DP Singh, has challenged the trial court's order, saying the special judge had failed to consider the settled position of the law that bail should not be "granted in a routine manner".