Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has distanced herself from the land deals involving Skylight Hospitality that are under the scanner of various law-enforcement agencies. She has also claimed that this was a political conspiracy to malign her. Priyanka — daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi — has been accused by some quarters of profiting from the land deals that her husband struck.
Skylight Hospitality belongs to Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra, and is currently under investigation after charges of land-grabbing cropped up against it. More recently, the Justice SN Dhingra Commission — set up by the BJP government in Haryana in 2015 to probe Vadra's land deals there — has said Vadra had made profits of Rs 50.5 crore from the deals, one of which involves a property bought and sold by Priyanka. The report has been published in a business daily.
Priyanka has said in a statement issued through her office: "Six years prior to the purported 'land deal involving Skylight Hospitality' on April 28, 2006, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra purchased 40 Kanal 00 Marla (5 acres) of agricultural land in village Amipur, tehsil Faridabad, district Faridabad in Haryana."
She added: "The land was purchased for a total purchase price of Rs 15 lakh, which was paid for entirely by cheque, which was the equivalent of Rs 3 lakh per acre. The source of funds for the aforesaid purchase was rental income of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from property inherited from her grandmother Indira Gandhi."
She then went on to distance herself and her dealings with the business ventures of her husband. She said: "The source of funds for this or any other property acquired by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has no relationship whatsoever with Robert Vadra's finances and/or Skylight Hospitality, and no relationship whatsoever with DLF."
Priyanka also said that any allegation put out by the aforementioned daily that "besmirches" her reputation "will appear to be based upon certain questionable documents and represent a deliberate, politically motivated and malicious campaign to besmirch and destroy her reputation."
