It’s a repositioning of sorts. By not pressing the issue in the High Court, Vadra has left all his options on the table at the trial court level. His side says they will make the right submissions when the time is right – more of a tactical nudge than a step down.
What the court recorded
Justice Manoj Jain was told by Vadra that he had no interest in going further with the petition and so it was withdrawn. The court has let the matter go, but with all the parties’ rights and grievances intact for the lower court to sort out.
ED case timeline and the contested point
The case has been making its way. Back on April 15, 2026, a special court gave notice of the offences in an ED chargesheet that was put in last July. That was the first time any agency has laid criminal charges at the feet of the 57-year-old. Before that, in April 2025, the ED had him in for three days of questioning. They were not having any of his High Court plea, calling it based on a misreading of the PMLA.
Vadra’s lawyer, Abhishek Singhvi, would have you believe the ED didn’t have the authority. His line of defence was that the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act offences in question weren’t in the PMLA schedule when the 2008-2012 land deal was done; they only made it in later. The ED called that out as simply false.
For quick reference, here are the core positions in dispute:
– ED says the plea misstates PMLA jurisdiction
– Defence says alleged offences were not scheduled then
– Timeline of schedule changes: 2013 and 2018
The Shikohpur land deal under the scanner
At the heart of it is a 3.5-acre piece of ground in what is now Gurugram’s Sector 83. In February 2008, Skylight Hospitality, with Vadra as a former director, put down 7.5 crore for it from Onkareshwar Properties. Then in 2012, DLF came in and paid 58 crore for it. That set off a row in October of that year when IAS officer Ashok Khemka, under the then Congress government of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, nixed the mutation over some procedural hiccups.
Vadra has always put it down to a political hatchet job on him and his family, even Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. But the ED has been on with the investigation.
Cognisance and the charges cited
Special Judge Sushant Changotra has seen enough in the papers to take cognisance of the case against Vadra and eight others under the PMLA. The summonses are not just for him; they name a host of people and companies like Sky Light Realty, Real Earth Estates, and Kewal Singh Virk.
What comes next
So where does this leave us? With the next date in the diary for May 16, the focus is back in the trial court. If the judge is with the ED on the PMLA, the July 2025 chargesheet will have legs. If the defence makes headway, the whole basis of the case could be put under a microscope. For now, it is a matter of procedure for Vadra, and for the ED, it is about holding their ground. The politics won’t die down, but the hard-nosed work of sifting through evidence and statutes is about to begin.
