Land case:: Priyanka joins Robert before ED questioning

New Delhi: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the newly-appointed Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East), arrived here on a chartered plane on Monday evening to meet her husband Robert Vadra, who is scheduled to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in Rajasthan’s border town of Bikaner.

Mr Vadra’s mother Maureen is also likely to appear before the central probe agency at about 10 am at its zonal office on Bhawani Singh Road in Jaipur on Tuesday. This will be the fourth time that Mr Vadra appears before the ED.

On the last three occasions, he appeared before the ED in Delhi in connection with a money-laundering probe against him for his alleg-ed role in procuring assets abroad in an alleged illegal manner. Tuesday’s appearance before the ED in Jaipur is directed by the Rajasthan high court which asked Mr Vadra and his mother to cooperate with the age-ncy after they approached it seeking directions that no coercive action is taken against them by the agency.

Sources said the investigating officer of the case would record the stat-ement of Mr Vadra and his mother under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The agency has grilled Mr Vadra for about 24 hours over three sessions last week in the national capital.

In the Bikaner case, the agency had summoned Mr Vadra thrice but he failed to appear and later approached the court.  The ED had registered a criminal case in connection with the deal in 2015.