Water tanker scam: Kapil Mishra quizzed by ACB

Sacked Delhi minister Kapil Mishra was questioned by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) today in connection with the alleged Rs 400 crore water tanker scam.

Mishra reached the ACB office around 11.30 am and was there for an hour, a senior ACB officer said. "I have demanded that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Ashish Talwar (his political advisor) should be called in for questioning. Some documents related to the high- security number plate scam have also been submitted to them," Mishra claimed. A couple of weeks ago, the ACB had recorded a detailed statement of Mishra and it was to question him last week but he had sought deferment due to personal reasons.

Kejriwal's private secretary Bibhav Kumar was questioned last week by the ACB in connection with the scam. Mishra had alleged that Kejriwal had "influenced" the probe into the tanker scam that dates back to Sheila Dikshit's tenure as chief minister. In August last year, Dikshit was examined by the ACB officials in connection with her alleged involvement in the scam.

The Kejriwal-led AAP government had in June 2015 constituted a fact-finding committee to go into the alleged irregularities in procuring some 385 stainless steel water tankers by the Delhi Jal Board. The Delhi government in June 2016 had sent a report of the fact-finding committee to the erstwhile Lt Governor Najeeb Jung following which an FIR was registered in the case.