Swamy hands over records on Vadra link in land deal

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has written to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking a CBI investigation into the declassification of Keventer Dairy Ltd. land near Rashtrapati Bhavan for building apartments, allegedly benefiting the real estate company DLF. He has appended documents which show that in at least one company (Greenwave Agro Private Ltd.) owned by Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, Robert Vadra, DLF executive Amit Mehta was the director.

“It was obvious that without political influence, this change in land use breaching national security and providing windfall profits would not have been possible,” Dr. Swamy said. In March, the BJP leader wrote to the President, seeking an investigation into the alleged compromise on his security because of the proposed construction of high-end apartments. The CBI said there was no evidence of irregularity in the conversion of the land.

The issue came up following an allegation that DLF was keen to add four more storeys to the permitted four.

Dr. Swamy earlier alleged that the 22-acre site was sold off to DLF by Keventers for much less than the market rate.

“The land was made available by the holders Keventers Company to a private company owned by DLF at a price of Rs. 65 crore after prolonged litigation. However, the value of the land in 2012 when the permission was granted for the conversion should be worth more than Rs. 10,000 crore,” Dr. Swamy alleged in his first letter.

While the Delhi Police in 2012 filed a report stating that construction of eight floors had the potential to pose a security threat, the Intelligence Bureau and the President’s security said the building could not be allowed to come up as it would lead to “‘visual intrusion” into the Rashtrapati Bhavan complex.