I-T department gives notice to Robert Vadra's firm

Robert Vadra's firm Sky Light Hospitality has received notice from the I-T dept.

Robert Vadra's firm Sky Light Hospitality is once again under the scanner of the Haryana income tax department that is scrutinising financial transactions carried out by the company Sky Light Hospitality.

The I-T department has summoned the company's principal officer for questioning on Friday and has sought a number of official documents including sale and purchase agreements, list of sellers of the properties acquired, details of loans raised and details of the company's board meetings.

The I-T department has also sought details of the controversial land deal Sky Light Hospitality struck with DLF.

When asked about the latest update in the Vadra saga, his counsel Suman Khaitan of Suman Khaitan and Co. said, "I have nothing to say. We are not dealing with this case."

Sources said the fresh probe into the land deal ordered by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, besides the I-T department notice, has been ordered to expose the alleged business relations between Vadra, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his associates. The probe follows the letter senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka had recently shot off to Haryana government.

Demanding strict action against all "wrongdoers", Khemka's letter stated, "The concessions given to DLF in the `17,000 crore land case have a relation with the sweetheart deal between Robert Vadra-owned Sky Light Hospitality and DLF wherein the latter paid `50.5 crore for a commercial colony licence for 2.701 acre in Shikohpur as one of the reasons. The wrongdoers cannot be allowed to go scot-free and must be made to account for their wrongs."

RELATIONS WITH HOODA

Sources said the central and state agencies want to reveal the close relations between Robert Vadra and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda. On that front, the I-T department notice and Khattar's probe has prominently focused on Vadra's relations with Onkareshwar Properties, the firm which had paved the way for the controversial land deal.

Investigations have also revealed that Onkareshwar Properties had direct and indirect relations with the Hooda family. MAIL TODAY has learnt that two of the directors of Onkareshwar Properties, the company that Vadra bought land from, have close links with the then Haryana CM.

The company, which sold 3.5 acre land in Shikohpur village in Gurgaon to Vadra, was floated by the brother of former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda in 2004. MAIL TODAY has learnt that the previous directors of Onkareshwar Properties had links with senior Congress politicians, including Hooda. Kanda's brother and one Pradeep Kumar had established the firm in 2004 with only a few thousand rupees as seed money.

Over the years, the directors of this company kept changing. When Vadra purchased Sikohpur land from this company on February 12, 2008, Kewal Singh Virk and Rajinder Bansal were its directors. But a week after the land deal, Satyanand Yajee, former general secretary of All India Freedom Fighters' Organisation (AIFFO), and Godavari Yajee took over as directors. Yajee and Hooda had together formed the All India Freedom Fighters' Successors' Organisation, a sister organisation of AIFFO. Hooda's father Ranbir Singh Hooda had formed AIFFO. Sheel Bhadra Yajee (Satyanand Yajee's father) also headed this organisation in the past.

Investigations have also revealed that Satyanand Yajee and Sandeep Dahiya, a relative of Hooda's wife Asha, are board members of Onkareshwar Properties. It is worth mentioning here that Vadra on February 9, 2008 had issued a cheque amounting to `7.5 crore to Onkareshwar Properties as payment for the 3.53 acre land bought in Shikohpur village. But it was later found that the cheque was not encashed for six months. The investigations have found that Vadra's bank account did not have enough balance. Vadra had allegedly eventually cleared the cheque after DLF paid him six months later.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda, however, denied all the allegations. "We have not favoured anybody in this land deal. The stamp duty and the licence fees were charged as per the policy of the state government. We have nothing to do with private parties," Hooda said.