SENSATIONAL: Bought land and gifted it to Priyanka, admits Rahul Gandhi remaining silent on deal's link with arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari

After the massive newsbreak by OpIndia and Republic TV which reported how Congress President Rahul Gandhi had alleged links with arms lobbyist Sanjay Bhandari - a close aide of Robert Vadra - through a series of land deals done through one HL Pahwa, the Congress party has admitted to the deal, defending its legitimacy while choosing to remaining silent on the connection to Bhandari.

The Bharatiya Janata Party had raked up this matter on Wednesday and demanded Rahul Gandhi to explain his relation with Bhandari. Under pressure, Congress has released an explanation which has been accessed by Republic TV, mentioning Rahul Gandhi had initially bought land from HL Pahwa, but later transferred it to his sister, who in turn donated it to a non-profit organisation.

In its effort to rebut the report, the Congress party has claimed that its president had purchased 6.456 acre of land from for Rs 26.47 lakh, which was all paid through cheque in March 2008. 

Four years later, ie on July 2012, the Congress president had 'gifted' the land to his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had in turn in August 2014 gifted the land to a not for profit spiritual organisation, the party claims.

The Congress concluded its defence of Rahul Gandhi by stating that the party chief did not, at any point, have any connection with any individual whatsoever during the land deal.

With this statement, the party has accepted that Rahul Gandhi had bought land and gifted it to her sister, but remained mum on HL Pahwa whom it is then possible to connect to Sanjay Bhandari.

READ: Land Deal Papers Raise Questions Over Rahul Gandhi Link To Under-scanner Arms Dealer Who Also Sought Rafale Offset Contract, As Per Report

The report by OpIndia, which had accessed ED documents from the searches conducted on H L Pahwa on May 3, 2017, and May 4, 2017, proved that there were land dealings between Rahul Gandhi and HL Pahwa. The latter is alleged to be on the payroll of CC Thampi, who is connected to both Sanjay Bhandari and Robert Vadra.

Here is a brief about the various connection which were found out from the newsbreak:

• Rahul Gandhi allegedly purchased land from HL Pahwa, as did Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Robert Vadra, as per the documents above. Rahul Gandhi's purchase was at a price lesser than what was initially quoted by Pahwa, while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra later sold back her property to Pahwa for an inflated price.
• Pahwa allegedly managed to fund the re-purchase of Priyanka Gandhi's land parcel after receiving an enormous sum of money from CC Thampi. Thampi had property dealings with Sanjay Bhandari that also allegedly involved Robert Vadra.
• Sanjay Bhandari had allegedly attempted to lobby for a Rafale offset contract and is also accused of being connected to Ministry of Defence documents going missing.