Government 'vindictive', harassing my 75-year-old mother, alleges Robert Vadra

NEW DELHI: Robert Vadra, who is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate in various cases, Tuesday alleged the Modi government was being "vindictive" and was harassing his 75-year-old mother as elections were approaching.

Vadra, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, asked as to why the government took four years and eight months in calling him for questioning, a month before campaigning begins for the general elections.

"Do they think people in India do not view it as an election gimmick?" he said in a Facebook post.

His outburst in the Facebook post came just before he and his mother Maureen appeared before the Enforcement Directorate at its zonal office in Jaipur in connection with a probe into an alleged land scam in the Rajasthan's border town of Bikaner. AICC general secretary and his wife Priyanka Gandhi accompanied them to the ED office.

"So here we are my 75-year-old mother and me in Jaipur to depose in front of the Enforcement Directorate (sic). Not understanding the lows of this vindictive government to be harassing a senior citizen, who the world knows has lost her daughter in a car crash, her ailing son to diabetes, and her husband as well," Vadra said.

"Three deaths and all I did was to ask her to spend time with me in my office, so I can look after her and we both could grieve on our losses, while spending time together," he said.

Vadra alleged that his mother was now being accused, maligned and called to be interrogated, for spending time in his office.

He said he has already been interrogated for three days in ED's Delhi headquarters.

"As I always have adhered to rules and overall being a disciplined person, I have the ability to sustain any amount of hours of questioning and having nothing to hide, I will answer every question with respect and dignity. This too shall pass and will make me stronger.

"What goes around comes around. God is with us!" Vadra said.

Apart from the alleged land scam in the Rajasthan's border town of Bikaner, Vadra is also being investigated by the ED in connection with two other cases.

This is Vadra's fourth appearance before the agency and first in Jaipur. On the last three occasions, he appeared before ED in Delhi in connection with a money laundering probe against him for his alleged role in procuring assets abroad.