Allahabad HC seeks Centre's response on Robert Vadra probe petition

LUCKNOW: Centre was today asked by the Allahabad High Court to respond within three weeks on a petition seeking a probe into allegations levelled by Arvind Kejriwal against Robert Vadra.

The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad HC granted the Centre three weeks time to file its preliminary objection regarding maintainability of a writ petition filed by social activist Nutan Thakur.

The petitioner had sought court's direction to the Prime Minister's Office to consider conducting an inquiry into allegations of financial impropriety against Vadra made by Kejriwal and Supreme Court lawyer Prashat Bhushan.

Additional Solicitor General Ashok Nigam strongly opposed the petition saying it was based on hearsay and was not maintainable.

The petition was filed on October 9. The division bench comprising Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice Virendra Kumar Dixit fixed November 21 as the next date of hearing.

Kejriwal and Bhushan had alleged that Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi had been hugely favoured by realty major DLF, a charge denied by both.

They alleged that Vadra had bought property worth crores of rupees between 2007 and 2010 with an "unsecured interest free loan" of Rs 65 crore given by DLF, which refuted the claim.