The two persons — Jaiprakash Bagarwa and Ashok Kumar — were arrested from Kolayat in Bikaner late on Thursday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) took into custody two persons, one of them with connections to Skylight Hospitality, a company linked to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, in the Bikaner 374 hectare land scam case on Friday. The two persons — Jaiprakash Bagarwa and Ashok Kumar — were arrested from Kolayat in Bikaner late on Thursday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The land scam case was registered in 2015. Confirming the arrests, sources in the ED said Ashok Kumar is a close associate of Mahesh Nagar the authorised representative of Skylight Hospitality that purchased 69.55 hectares of land for Rs 72 lakh.
It then sold it for Rs 5.15 crore to Allegeny Finlease, earning massive profits. Bagarwa and Kumar allegedly knew about the fraudulent nature of the land deals. Kumar is also an accused in cases filed by the Rajasthan government.
The duo were first taken to the PMLA court where the judge was absent and hence were further referred to a special court.
The ED told the court that the two had not been cooperating with the investigators despite being served with several notices. It sought a 10-day remand, but the court granted them eight days’ custody, till December 30.
The ED also told the court that the two have the power of attorney of many lands whose ownership is being investigated. Many lands have been transferred several times to many fictitious persons. Many people who have supposedly bought the lands do not have the financial status to do so, the agency informed the court.
It also said that in many cases, money had been transferred many months and, in some cases, several years before the transfer of titles.
In 2015, the ED registered a case under the PMLA after taking cognizance of an FIR lodged by a local tehsildar on alleged forgery. The agency also attached assets worth Rs 1.18 crore belonging to government employees.
The ED had issued notices to the firm associated with Vadra, but had not mentioned Vadra or any company associated with him in the FIR.
The Rajasthan government had in January 2015 cancelled the mutation (transfer of land) of 374.44 hectares of land, after the revenue department claimed to have found fraudulent allotments in the name of illegal persons.
The case filed by the Rajasthan government relates to the land across 34 villages of Bikaner that was to be given to persons whose land was acquired for the expansion of Army’s firing range. Instead of the beneficiaries, the land was grabbed by illegal persons through forged documents. This was then purchased by firms linked to Vadra and later sold at huge profit.
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