Court refuses to hear petition in Sky Light Hospitality case

The case was registered by the ED in September 2015, claiming that Sky Light Hospitality had acquired land in Kolayat village of Bikaner, which was meant to rehabilitate poor villagers. It was alleged that Robert Vadra bought 69.55 hectares of land at a cheaper rate and then sold the land to Allegheny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore through illegal transactions.

Jodhpur:Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday refused hearing in a petition pertaining to the Jodhpur Sky Light Hospitality case, in which businessman Robert Vadra, his mother Maureen Vadra and Mahesh Nagar are accused.

The two petitions submitted by the ED were listed in the court of Judge Manoj Garg but when the number came up for hearing, the judge refused and asked the petitioner to approach another bench.

The ED had submitted an application for interrogation of Robert Vadra, on which the petitioners' advocates were to present their reply.

Additional solicitor general RD Rostagi from ED and advocate Bhanupratap Bohra from Jodhpur ED were present for the lobbying. He was also represented by senior advocate KTS Tulsi of the Supreme Court on behalf of Robert Vadra and Mahesh Nagar and Kuldeep Mathur, Vikas Balia and Abhishek Mehta from Jodhpur, but the judge refused to hear.

The case was registered by the ED in September 2015, claiming that Sky Light Hospitality had acquired land in Kolayat village of Bikaner, which was meant to rehabilitate poor villagers. It was alleged that Vadra bought 69.55 hectares of land at a cheaper rate and then sold the land to Allegheny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore through illegal transactions.

In Bikaner land scam fraudsters in collusion with the state government officials got land allotted in the name of fictitious individuals, though the land was actually meant for the people who were displaced due to the creation of the Mahajan Field Firing range.

The fraudsters created forged allotment letters purportedly issued by the Colonisation Department of the state government and 1,422 'bighas' of land was recorded in revenue record in the name of fictitious allottees without due verification of the allotment letters by the concerned department.

There was an interim stay on the arrest of Robert Vadra and his mother Morin Vadra. The matter is under consideration in the High Court, now two applications have been submitted by the ED to inquire into the custody of both. They have to present the answer to the petitioner's advocate.

(With ANI inputs)