Income Tax department probe whether fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari bought business-class air tickets for Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law has virtually hit a dead-end.
According to The Indian Express, when Income Tax department officials approached the Paharganj-based travel agency through which the tickets were booked, they said payments were received in cash, and had no recollection whether the money was handed over by someone from either Bhandari’s side or Vadra’s side.
Bhandari has been on I-T’s radar since he was raided in April 2016 and the fresh revelations have created political ripples.
“If the payments for the flights had been made by cheque, we could have traced the person who made the payments. But since the payments were made in cash there is nothing to dig deeper. And an amount of between Rs 8 lakh-Rs 10 lakh is too small an amount for us to call Robert Vadra over for questioning,” a senior Income Tax official monitoring the probe told the newspaper.
Times Now on Monday claimed to have accessed documents that establish what appears to be a direct link between the two.
The Times of India report said emails accessed by the channel show that the agent bought Vadra's air tickets.
The BJP on Tuesday mounted attack on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, questioning their "silence" over a claim in a media report that Vadra had "links" with Bhandari.
While Vadra did not react to the media report, Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi could get "any investigation" done into any allegations against the party chief's son-in-law to find out if there was any "wrongdoing".
The BJP fielded defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman to attack the Congress leadership over the media report which claimed that Vadra had "links" with Bhandari.
Sitharaman, while addressing a press conference in Delhi, asked, "Why senior leadership of the Congress, including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, is keeping a studied silence?"
She said the silence of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul will be construed as acceptance of charges against Vadra.
Citing the media report, Sitharaman alleged that a London house linked to Vadra was refurbished by Bhandari, who also made arrangements for his travel abroad.
(With PTI inputs)
