The Enforcement Directorate on December 22 said it has arrested two persons, including an associate of Mahesh Nagar, authorised representative of Skylight Hospitality, in connection with the Bikaner 1,422-bigha land scam case.
Skylight Hospitality, a company linked to Robert Vadra, had bought 69.55 hectare of land for ₹72 lakh and sold it to Allegeny Finlease for ₹5.15 crore, earning a huge profit of ₹4.43 crore, said the agency in a statement.
Those arrested have been identified as Jaiprakash Bagarwa and Ashok Kumar. According to the agency, Mr. Kumar was used as a conduit by Mr. Nagar, who allegedly knew the “fraudulent nature” of the land in question.
Both Mr. Vadra and the company have denied any wrongdoing and alleged that they were themselves cheated. “Skylight Hospitality Private Limited or Shri Robert Vadra are victims of the original wrongful allotments, fraud and consequent sale of said land to them in Kolayat, District Bikaner,” a legal representative of Mr. Vadra had earlier said.
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The ED on December 22 said Allegeny Finlease as a company was not involved in any real business activity and many of its shareholders were found to be dummy or non-existent during investigation.
Stating that the agency has got important leads while investigating the case, it said the two arrested accused would be produced before a court.
During the course of investigation, the ED had recently attached assets worth ₹1.18 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The case alleges that some fraudsters, in collusion with Rajasthan government officials, got allotted in name of fictitious individuals the land that was earmarked for people who got displaced due to the development of Mahajan Field Firing Range in Bikaner.
Also read: Vadra-linked land: ED conducts searches
“They created forged allotment letters purported issued by the Colonisation Department and 1,422 bigha land was registered in the revenue records in the name of these fictitious allottees without due verification of the allotment letters. Tehsil officers like Patwari, Girdawar, and Tehsildar were active partners in the conspiracy,” said the agency.
The Rajasthan Police have registered cases and filed 20 charge sheets, making Mr. Kumar as one of the accused persons.
