Panel probing Robert Vadra land deals seeks more time

Justice S.N. Dhingra, who is due to submit his report on land deals in Gurgaon, including those concerning Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, Robert Vadra, has sought six more weeks to submit his final report.

Justice Dhingra met Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday evening and informed that he had received some more information that would help identify the officials who had colluded in the fraudulent land deals and thus needed six more weeks.

He told media personnel later: “I am of the opinion that the (new) documents need to be studied in detail. I would thereby require more time.” He has also written to the chief secretary seeking extension of the commission.

The demand for extension has come amid attac-ks on Justice Dhingra by the Congress, alleging that he had sought favours as the head of a trust and was gifted land and shown undue favours.

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had stated in a communication to Haryana governor Kaptan Singh Solanki that the Dhingra Commission had been set up “contrary to established rules and no-rms, without due Cabinet approval and (was) prompted by malice and political considerations”. Mr Hooda had urged the governor “to revoke the constitution of the commission of enquiry.

The commission has also not summoned Mr Vadra or the whistleblower, senior Haryana bureaucrat Ashok Khemka, for inquiry. Earlier on Thursday, Mr Vadra had dismissed the allegations against him, saying they were false and that he would “always be used for political gains”.

In a Facebook post, he wrote: “Almost a decade of governments false and baseless accusations on me! They cannot prove anything without proof, and there is nothing there to prove... I will always be used for political gains, I know ... But I will walk with my head held high, as in time and with the truth which will conquer incorrect prove (sic).”

Mr Vadra had recently been issued a notice by the Enforcement Directorate for his alleged involvement in a land scam in Bikaner.

The one-man Dhingra Commission was set up by the BJP government in Haryana in May last year to probe controversial land deals in Haryana, including those of Mr Vadra.