Congress rewarded property dealer's brother after he facilitated Robert Vadra's land deals: report

New Delhi, Oct 19: The Congress party during the Haryana assembly elections in 2009 gave ticket to the brother of a property dealer who had facilitated land deals for Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra in Haryana and Rajasthan, The Times of India reported today. Congress gave ticket to Lalit Nagar, brother of property dealer Mahesh Nagar, who signed land deal agreements on behalf of Robert Vadra, the report said. Lalit Nagar, the report says, was a first-time candidate, in Faridabad's newly-created constituency of Tigaon. According to a report filed in a Chandigarh-based paper, Nagar had "made a name as a realtor in the area". But political circles in Faridabad believe not just did he make his name and fortune in the real estate business, Nagar also earned his ticket through it.The Times of India claimed it had documents showing Lalit Nagar's brother, Mahesh Nagar, purchased land on behalf of Robert Vadra, not just in Haryana but also in Rajasthan.A sale deed dated 3 March, 2008, shows nine acres of land in Hasanpur village in Haryana's Palwal district was sold by Gurgaon resident H L Pahwa to Robert Vadra for Rs 36.9 lakh. At the bottom of the deed, Pahwa has signed as the seller. But the buyer's signature is not Vadra's, it is Mahesh Nagar's. The buyer is named as 'Robert Vadra through Mahesh Nagar', which shows Vadra has vested authority/power of attorney in Mahesh Nagar.Similarly, a sale deed from Rajasthan's Bikaner district shows 4.63 acres of land in Basti village in Ganganagar tehsil was sold for Rs 8.5 lakh in April, 2009, by 42-year-old Sarita Devi Bothra to Real Earth Estate Private Limited, a company based in New Delhi. The company's director is Robert Vadra. The purchase is done on Vadra's behalf by Mahesh Nagar.In both states, the total extent of the land purchased by Mahesh Nagar for Robert Vadra remains unclear but sources on the ground claim it runs into several hundreds of acres. Even the 6.45 acres of land purchased by Rahul Gandhi in Hasanpur village in Haryana's Palwal district in March, 2008, was done through Mahesh Nagar.Little surprise that when Lalit Nagar won a Congress ticket in the 2009 assembly elections, even Congressmen saw it as a reward for his and his brother's services as trusted real estate agents. "Nagar bahut halka aadmi tha (Nagar was a lightweight). He had done some work in Youth Congress years ago, that's all," the report quoted a Congress leader as saying. "I won't even call him a lightweight. He was a nobody," says Krishna Pal, BJP MLA from Tigaon, who defeated Nagar by 811 votes. "Nagar was chosen over senior Congressmen with 30-40 years of political experience only because he was Robert Vadra's man. "He has also bought land for Vadra in Amipur village in Faridabad district," he adds.Though Nagar lost the 2009 elections, he has spent lakhs of rupees on posters and billboards put all over his constituency projecting himself as a leader. His personal website strives hard to showcase his political credentials. It points out that his uncle Gajaraj Bahudar served as a minister in Haryana between 1977 and 1982. It lists his own previously held positions: District President, Kissan Khet Mazdoor Congress and General Secretary, Youth Congress. And it describes him as "one of the most dedicated propagandist of Congress Party ideologies."However, since controversy erupted over Vadra's land deals, Nagar has been keeping a low-profile. He did not answer calls made on his cellphone by Times of India.At Nagar's residence in Sector 17 of Faridabad, his supporters politely turn visiting journalists away.Nagar is the second Congress leader in Haryana whose name has surfaced in Vadra's land deals. Last week, in a press conference, leader of opposition in Haryana, Om Prakash Chautala, had alleged that Aftab Ahmed, the Congress MLA from Nuh constituency in Mewat district, won a ticket in 2009 in return for selling land to Real Earth Estate Pvt Ltd, a companies in which Vadra is a director.Chautala claimed 27 acres of land in Shakarpuri village in Mewat district, 75 km from Delhi, was sold between May 11 and 25, 2009, for Rs 2 lakh per acre, while the circle rate, or the minimum rate set by the government, was Rs 16 lakh, and the market rate was Rs 50 lakh. Of the 27 acres, 17 acres of the land belonged to Ahmed's wife, mother and two sisters-in-law.While Ahmed admitted the family land was sold to Real Earth Estate Pvt Ltd, he said it was just "a coincidence" that the company's director was Robert Vadra. In his defence, he also pointed out that he had contested elections twice before and his family had a strong political legacy. His grandfather Kabir Ahmed was elected MLA twice and his father Khurshid Ahmed was a minister in Haryana three times, winning his last election as an MLA in 1996.