JODHPUR: The high court on Monday continued the stay on the arrest of Robert Vadra with a direction to him to cooperate in the inquiry by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a complaint of money laundering against Skylight Hospitality Limited that belongs to Vadra. The single bench of justice P S Bhati, while hearing the petition, agreed to defer the hearing till March 15 on the assurance of cooperation in inquiry.“Vadra has appeared before the ED on February 12 in pursuance of the direction of the court and has been cooperating in the inquiry”, said his counsel Kuldeep Mathur to the court. On this assurance, the court deferred the hearing continuing with the stay on arrest of Vadra without court’s permission.The court, during last hearing on January 21, had removed the clause of “No Coercive Action” against Vadra during inquiry but had refused to vacate the stay on his arrest. It may be recalled that the ED had initiated an inquiry against the owner and partners of Skylight Hospitality Limited in a complaint of money laundering against the company. The company moved the court against this inquiry and obtained an order that no coercive action would be taken against them during inquiry.The government then moved the court seeking vacation of this order on the ground that there was neither any FIR in the matter nor there was any accused named. “It is just a fact-finding inquiry which is at the initial stage so the court should not intervene in the matter at this stage,” additional solicitor general Rajdeep Rastogi had argued in the court.Admitting the arguments of the government, the court removed the clause of “No Coercive Action”, and on the basis of the mutual consent of the lawyers from both the sides, ordered the partners of the company Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen Vadra before the ED with the direction to them to cooperate in the inquiry.But the court refused to vacate the stay on arrest and directed the government to obtain a separate order to this effect if the need of the arrest arose.

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