A high drama ensued in the capital on Tuesday as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out searches in the third floor of the Delhi secretariat, sealing its premises, which houses the offices of both chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his secretary Rajender Kumar. Kumar and his wife were taken to the CBI headquarters for interrogation on Tuesday evening.
Terming the CBI action as an 'undeclared emergency', a livid Kejriwal initially took to twitter to express his anguish, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 'a coward and psychopath'.
He later alleged that the day-long search carried out by the investigation agency was to look for an inquiry committee file relating to Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) where alleged irregularities were reported under union finance minister Arun Jaitley's leadership.
While Jaitley said he doesn't need to comment on a 'rubbish' statement, an infuriated BJP countered Kejriwal's attack on the Prime Minister and demanded that he apologise.
"Chief minister Kejriwal must apologise to the Prime Minister for levelling baseless allegations against the Prime Minister," union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a news conference at the BJP headquarters. However, party sources said there was some disappointment in the treasury benches on the timing of the CBI raid, which had been raised by the Opposition in Parliament.
On the other hand, opposition parties in the Parliament came in solidarity with Kejriwal over the CBI raid, but distanced themselves over the CM's comments on Modi.
Speaking to the media, Kejriwal said it has become necessary to reveal that why did the CBI come to his office and which was the file they were looking for. "It is the DDCA file under which Arun Jaitley is getting trapped," Kejriwal said, adding the CBI had particularly raided his office as against the departmental offices, where only 10 to 15 day-old files are stored.
Kejriwal said his government had set up an inquiry committee to probe alleged irregularities in DDCA which had submitted its report.
"They have no interest in the contracts awarded by Rajender. If he had awarded contracts in 2007, what were you doing till 2015 Modiji?" asked Kejriwal after a meeting with his cabinet colleagues and senior AAP leaders.
The CBI team which reached the Delhi secretariat around 10am continued raids till late afternoon.
Earlier, the CBI had registered a case against Kumar under section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and section 13 (2) criminal misconduct, 13 (1) (d) (abusing position as a public servant) of Prevention of Corruption Act.
The probe agency claimed that Kumar, during his stint in various Delhi government departments awarded contracts to PSUs which were either headed by him or his associates. The agency also registered cases against AK Duggal, GK Nanda – both former directors of Intelligent Communication Systems India Ltd. (ICSIL), RS Kaushik, MD ICSIL, Sandeep Kumar and Dinesh Kumar, both directors of Endeavor Systems Pvt. Ltd. CBI said Kumar had prior association with both Sandeep and Dinesh Kumar and had been in touch with the duo when he was working as a director in School education department
"Based on the complaint filed by former member secretary of Delhi Dialogue Commission in July this year coupled with information that we collected, a case was registered against Rajender Kumar and others. The allegations against Kumar in his capacity as a government servant favoured giving contracts to a private company that was formed by him in 2006," said CBI spokesperson Devpreet Singh. She added that Kumar allegedly facilitated awarding of five contracts worth rupees 9.5 crore rupees between 2007-2014.
The complaint on which the CBI acted was forwarded to it by Anti-Corruption Branch headed by senior Delhi Police joint commissioner MK Meena
The agency also carried out raids in more than 14 locations that included residences and offices of all the accused and claimed to have recovered incriminating evidence against them. "Investigators had recovered foreign currency worth Rs3 lakh and another Rs2.4 lakh were also seized in the raid. Alongwith the case, the probe agency also confiscated papers of atleast three immovable properties from Kumar. Another Rs10 lakh were recovered from Duggal," the spokesperson added.
According to CBI officials, there are five allegations against Kumar which the agency would be probing. In three cases, Kumar allegedly gave contracts to accused companies without inviting any tenders. The agency added that in the remaining two cases tenders were invited but were 'tailor-made' to suit the companies. The accused allegedly manipulated the tender process by designing pre-qualification criteria to award various contracts in favour of the said firm while in other cases, work was awarded without following due procedure.
"The accused were instrumental in award of projects to the said private company in Delhi Transco Ltd, Health and Family Welfare Department, Delhi Jal Board and Department of Trade and Taxes, GNCTD," the spokesperson said.
Talking about the controversy over his words, Kejriwal said, "They say that my choice of words were incorrect... I was born in Siwan village of Haryana. Maybe my words were bad. But your actions are bad. You apologise to the nation for your misdeeds and I will apologise for my words," he said.
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