New Delhi:  Robert Vadra, the businessman spouse of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday for interrogation regarding a money laundering case associated with UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari and others, according to official sources.

The 56-year-old Vadra reached the federal investigative agency’s office in central Delhi after 11 am, accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the MP representing Kerala’s Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.

His statement was documented under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources indicated.

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He had been summoned by the agency twice last month for questioning regarding this matter but requested a postponement of his summons due to international travel commitments.

Vadra is under investigation by the agency in three separate money laundering cases, including two related to alleged irregularities in land transactions.

In April, he was interrogated by the ED for three consecutive days concerning alleged irregularities in a 2008 land deal in Haryana. Additionally, he is being scrutinized by the anti-money laundering agency in connection with alleged financial discrepancies in a land deal in Bikaner, Rajasthan.

The case involving Vadra and Bhandari relates to findings reported by the ED in a chargesheet in 2023, which claims that Bhandari “acquired” the property at 12, Bryanston Square in London in 2009 and had it renovated “as per the instructions of Vadra, with funds for the renovation provided by Robert Vadra.”

Vadra has refuted claims of owning any property in London, either directly or indirectly.

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Describing these allegations as a political witch hunt against him, he has asserted that he is being “hounded and harassed” for political purposes. The ED is anticipated to submit a new chargesheet in the Bhandari case following the documentation of Vadra’s statement.

The 63-year-old Bhandari escaped to London in 2016 shortly after the Income Tax department conducted a raid on him in Delhi. Recently, a Delhi court labeled him a fugitive economic offender.

A UK court, not long ago, denied the Indian government’s request for permission to appeal in Britain’s Supreme Court regarding Bhandari’s discharge in an extradition case, effectively eliminating the possibility of his return to the country to confront legal proceedings.