As a furious Arvind Kejriwal alleged that his office has been raided and sealed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI has emphatically denied raiding the Delhi CM's office. But Kejriwal is smelling a rat. The Chief Minister's limited point is that any complaint about his principal secretary should have been shared with him before the raids.
CBI on Tuesday (15 December) raided the office of the Delhi CM's Principal Secretary, Rajendra Kumar. This office at the Delhi secretariat is just next door to the CM's cabin. After registering an FIR against Kumar, the investigating agency raided 14 locations in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh including his residence and office.
CBI sources said that investigators found foreign currency worth over Rs 3 lakh, cash worth Rs 2.4 lakh and documents pertaining to three immovable assets at Kumar's south Delhi residence. Officials also allegedly found cash worth Rs 10.5 lakh from the possession of a co-accused, 1989-batch IAS officer GK Nanda. "More individuals will be questioned, arrests may be made, especially of those under the scanner who don't cooperate," said the source.
Apart from Kumar, the FIR also names as accused private firm Endeavour Systems Private Limited (ESPL), two of its senior officers -- directors Sandeep Kumar and Dinesh Kumar Gupta -- and three former and serving senior officers -- ex-managing directors AK Duggal, GK Nanda and managing director RS Kaushik of Intelligent Communication System India Limited.
The FIR against Rajender Kumar alleges abusing of his official position and granting favours to a private firm in bagging state government contracts.
The raid could potentially be the latest flashpoint in what has been a highly troublesome and tumultuous relationship between the AAP government and the BJP-ruled Centre ever since Kejriwal assumed power. True to his style, Kejriwal has taken to Twitter to slam the Central Government, to call PM Modi a "coward and psychopath" and also announced his theory for the raids. Little wonder that he has found support in Trinamool Congress boss Mamata Banerjee, herself reeling under onslaughts of CBI investigations into the chit fund scams in West Bengal.
BW Reporters
With about 10 years as a journalist, Suchetana has covered a wide range of issues from the Singur agitations in Bengal in 2007 to the 2G scam and more recently the Modi government’s financial policies. Her forte is investigative reporting and reporting on tax policies of the government. Before she joined BW Businessworld as National News Editor in August, she worked with ET Now for 7 years as News Editor.
