Robert Vadra land: Manesar sub-registrar turns blind eye under-valuation

CHANDIGARH: When Robert Vadra's company came to the office of Manesar sub-registrar on September 18 this year to register the sale deed (no. 1435) with DLF Universal of the 3.53-acre land that he had bought in Shikohpur in February 2008, the officer was well aware that the value of this land had shot up by almost eight times from Rs 7.5 crore to Rs 58 crore in just four months.

The land was bought by Vadra's Sky Light Hospitality on February 12, 2008 for Rs 7.5 crore. Immediately after that Vadra's firm applied for change of land use licence (known as LOI/licence in official circle) which he was awarded on March 28, 2008.

Within months, he entered into a sale agreement with DLF for Rs 58 crore for the same land and received the first installment of Rs 5 crore on June 3, 2008. Subsequently, he got three more cheques of Rs 10 crore, Rs 35 crore and Rs 8 crore on March 27, 2009, November 7, 2009 and July 25, 2012 respectively.

All these payment details, including the cheque numbers, were mentioned in the sale deed which was signed and registered with the Manesar sub-registrar on September 18, 2012. After reading the document, the sub-registrar could have easily detected the fact that the land which was bought on February 12, 2008 for Rs 7.5 crore was sold to DLF for Rs 58 crore by June 3, 2008 and the first installment of the money was also paid to Vadra by then. However, this did not prompt the officer to further probe the deal and find out whether the land was undervalued when it was bought by Vadra on February 12, 2008. Between February and June 2008, Vadra's firm secured the change of land use licence — the crucial factor which helped the land price shoot up.