Robert Vadra (born 18 April 1969) is an Indian businessman, entrepreneur and the husband of Priyanka Gandhi. He is the son-in-law of

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (''née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independen ...

and the brother-in-law of

Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president o ...

Early life and family

Robert Vadra was born to Rajendra and Maureen Vadra on 18 April 1969. His father's family is of Punjabi descent settled in Moradabad district, Uttar Pradesh. His paternal family is originally from

Sialkot Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...

in present-day Pakistan. Rajendra's father moved to India at the time of partition. His mother Maureen (''née'' McDonagh) is of Scottish origin. Rajendra was a resident of

Civil Lines, Moradabad Civil Lines is a residential neighbourhood in Moradabad, India. It is one of the various Civil Lines neighbourhoods developed by the British Raj for the senior officers in British India. The Moradabad Club is also situated in this neighbourhood. ...

and ran a brass and wood handicrafts business. Vadra has only completed his high school education. Robert Vadra's brother Richard died by suicide and his sister Michelle died in a car accident in 2001. His father was found dead on April 3, 2009 in City Inn, a guest house in the Yusuf Sarai area of Delhi.

Politics

In January 2002, Vadra issued a notice in print newspaper distancing himself from his father and brother as they were misusing his relationship with the Nehru–Gandhi family to make money while promising jobs and other favours. Following this,

, the then

Congress president The President of the Indian National Congress is the chief executive of the Indian National Congress (INC), one of the principal political parties in India. Constitutionally, the president is elected by an electoral college composed of members ...

also issued a notice to all Congress CMs, state unit heads and senior party members to stay away from Vadra and his family. Until 2012, while Vadra was mostly in the background, he became a target for several opposition parties after the 2012 anti-corruption movement, India against corruption made allegations against him. These allegations got further politicization after several instances of Congress party spokespersons defending allegations on Vadra, stating he was a soft target. While Vadra is not into active politics he had been actively campaigning for his brother-in-law

and mother-in-law

. In the Lok Sabha elections of 2019, he campaigned actively across India for several candidates. Recently on his 50th birthday, when asked about his intent to join active politics, Vadra stated it would happen 2–3 years later.

Controversies

DLF land grab case

In October 2011, he was accused by

Arvind Kejriwal Arvind Kejriwal (Hindi: �ɾʋin̪d̪ ked͡ʒɾiːʋaːl born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician, former bureaucrat, and activist who is the 7th and current Chief Minister of Delhi since February 2015. Currently, he is the national co ...

of taking an interest-free loan of 650 million and heavy bargains on land from

DLF Limited Delhi Land & Finance (DLF Limited) is a commercial real estate developer. It was founded by Chaudhary Raghvendra Singh in 1946 and it is based in New Delhi, India. DLF developed residential colonies in Delhi such as, Model Town, Rajouri Garde ...

in exchange for political favours. DLF responded that it had dealt with Vadra as a private entrepreneur, that the loan was Business Advance which was given, as per practice of trade, to make payments for land purchased from Vadra, that the company did not sell him land at a discounted price, and that no quid pro quo took place. Corporation Bank has denied ever providing an overdraft facility of that amount. Meanwhile after being asked to vacate the government accommodation at Lodhi estate, Priyanka Vadra shifted to a 5500 sqft 5 bedroom home at a DLF property in Gurugram.

Bikaner land case

In February 2019,

Rajasthan High Court The Rajasthan High Court is the High Court of the state of Rajasthan. It was established on 29 August 1949 under the ''Rajasthan High Court Ordinance, 1949''. The seat of the court is at Jodhpur. The court has a sanctioned judge strength of 50. ...

has issued summons to Vadra and his mother Maureen in relation to a 2015 case of illegal land transactions in Kolayat area of Bikaner. The enforcement directorate had filed a case against Vadra's company Skylight hospitality pvt ltd alleging purchase of 69.55 bigha (approx. 28 acres) land in connivance with

Rajasthan government The Government of Rajasthan is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Rajasthan and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Rajasthan, a judiciary and a legislative. Jaipur is the capital of R ...

officials at sub market rates (7.2 million) and then selling them at exorbitantly higher prices to gain illegal profits. The company had been issued a notice under Prevention of money laundering act in 2016. Subsequently, the company approached Delhi HC and

Supreme court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in April 2018 for reassessment of their transactions, however the court directed Vadra to appear before the ED and cooperate in investigations. In recent development, the ED has attached the assets of Vadra's company Skylight valued at 46.2 million after Vadra appeared before ED ignoring several previous summons. In January 2020, during his interrogation with the ED, Vadra stated that he had viewed the land locations on Google maps, but could not recollect the source for the funds he used to purchase those.

Gurugram Rajiv Gandhi Trust land grab case

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vadra, Robert Nehru–Gandhi family People from Moradabad Living people 1969 births Anglo-Indian people Businesspeople from Uttar Pradesh Indian people of Scottish descent People charged with corruption