'DNA' investigations: The rise of Robert Vadra’s Nagar

From Bikaner to Haryana, the one common thread in multiple land purchases by Robert Vadra that run into nearly 800 hectares is a name that is, by now, familiar to Bikaner's property brokers — Mahesh Nagar. This Faridabad resident is the man authorised by Vadra, the son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, to register property documents on his behalf, including 20-odd properties purchased between 2009 and 2011 in Bikaner for Rs 2.85 crore.

While Nagar has remained low-key, documents available with DNA show that the businessman not only held the power of attorney for Vadra-owned companies that purchased 20-odd properties in Kolayat tehsil of Bikaner, but was also the executant in over half a dozen other land agreement registrations in the region during the same period between 2009 and 2011.

Nagar’s name is stated in the registration records for six land purchases in Kolayat by a company named Alpha Heights Pvt Ltd based in Daryaganj, Delhi, and another purchase made by a Bhubaneshwar-based real estate marketing company. These include a 13.67-hectare plot and a 8.81-ha plot purchased in August 2009 for Rs 31,00,000 and Rs 18,70,000. The seller in these two deals was Bikaner investor Vineet Asopa, who received cheques bearing Vadra’s signature, though records of the Registrar of Companies show the directors of Alpha Heights as being Anju and Amit Yadav of New Delhi. Other properties purchased by Alpha Heights include a 5.5-ha plot purchased for Rs 18 lakh, a 1.72-ha plot for Rs 5,60,000 and a 0.65-ha plot purchased for Rs 2,70,000, all in August 2009.

Meanwhile, days after the party called Vadra a private individual, its links with his land deals are slowly emerging. Ex- Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala mentioned Lalit Nagar as a witness to the registration of a land purchase agreement in Palwal, Haryana.

It has now emerged that the Nagars have assisted in Gandhi's as well as Vadra’s land purchases in Faridabad, Palwal district, Rajasthan and elsewhere.

Three-time BJP MLA Krishan Pal Gujjar who defeated Lalit Nagar in the 2009 election from the Tigaon constituency near Faridabad says Lalit and Mahesh Nagar were not originally associated with the Congress party. “They came in touch with Robert Vadra when they began to deal in land and began doing deals for him. They were rewarded with a Congress ticket for the Assembly election,” says Gujjar, adding that the Nagars, including their father, had supported him actively during previous elections.

Congressmen in Haryana say the Nagars are four brothers, all involved in property brokerage and now also working for the Congress. All four have been seen on Congress party hoardings in and around Faridabad. Lalit is now a member of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee. Lalit and Mahesh Nagar did not respond to repeated telephone calls and text messages.  

Mahesh Nagar, said to be in his mid-forties, also conducted land deals on behalf of Vadra’s companies including Blue Breeze Trading Pvt Ltd, North India IT Parks Pvt Ltd, Real Earth Estates Pvt Ltd, Skylight Hospitality and Skylight Realty Pvt Ltd. 

Incidentally, Vadra’s firms are not the Congress link in land purchases in Gajner, a tiny village located at the centre of the touristy ‘golden triangle’ of Jodhpur-Jaisalmer-Jaipur, also located along the spine of the Bhatinda-Barmer route that will see traffic grow exponentially once the proposed refinery in Barmer is operational. A 7.55-hectare plot purchased on August 18, 2008 for as little as Rs 21,000 per hectare by a little-known firm called Dauphin Developers of Shakarpur in Delhi is now owned by BMD Pvt Ltd, part of the multicrore LNJ Bhilwara Group. LN Jhunjhunwala’s son Riju Jhunjhunwala is married to the daughter of Rajasthan’s tourism minister Beena Kak, a Gandhi family loyalist. It has been reported that Riju is keen to contest the in next election from Bhilwara.