CBI raids office of Kejriwal''s Principal Secretary

Syed Ali Ahmed

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 15

The CBI on Tuesday morning raided the office and residence of Rajendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on the third floor of the Delhi Secretariat. Kejriwal, however, claimed files in his own office had been accessed by the raiding team.

The offices of the Chief Minister and the Principal Secretary are on the same floor.

When Modi cudn't handle me politically, he resorts to this cowardice

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 15, 2015

An official statement of the Central Bureau of Investigation insisted it had raided only the office of Rajendra Kumar, and the Chief Minister’s office had not been raided. The CBI also questioned Rajendra Kumar.

In all, CBI carried out searches at 14 places connected with Gupta in the national capital and various locations in Uttar Pradesh. The CBI claimed to have recovered about Rs 16 lakh, including Rs 2.4 lakh in cash and foreign currency of the value of Rs 3 lakh, from the residence of Kumar.

The agency said it has registered a case against Kumar and others on allegations against the officer that he abused his official position by "favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders from Delhi government departments".

"After taking warrants, searches are being conducted in the office and residence of Rajendra Kumar. The allegations against Kumar were raised by Ashish Joshi, former Member Secretary, Delhi Dialogue Commission," the CBI said.

Apart from Kumar, the agency has named A K Duggal and G K Nanda, former MDs of Intelligent Communication System India Limited (ICSIL), R S Kaushik, MD of ICSIL, Sandeep Kumar and Dinesh K Gupta, Directors of Ms Endeavour Systems Private Limited and the said firm as accused in their FIR filed under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC.

They claimed Rs 10.5 lakh cash was recovered from Nanda during the searches and documents pertaining to three immovable properties have been recovered from the residence of Principal Secretary Kumar.

Modi is a coward and a psycopath

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 15, 2015

The Chief Minister, who is involved in a prolonged tussle with the Centre, accused the Modi government of resorting to vendetta politics and came down heavily on the agency for the raids at Players Building.

Kejriwal tweeted that his office had been raided by the CBI, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was unable to face him politically and had therefore raided his office. 

Kejriwal in a tweet called the Prime Minister a ‘coward’ and ‘psychopath’.

The Chief Minister said if there was any complaint against the Principal Secretary, he should have been informed.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the Chief Minister’s office was located on the third floor of the Delhi Secretariat, and the office of the Principal Secretary was part of the Chief Minister’s office. If his office was raided, it meant the office of the Chief Minister had also been raided. “Files are being scrutinised. Computer is being searched. The office is sealed. Heavy security is deployed. No entry is allowed on third floor,” he said.

Sources said the search could be in connection with the multi-crore “CNG fitness scam”. There were allegations that the Principal Secretary was linked to the scam, but the senior IAS officer as well as the AAP government have been rejecting the charges.

The issue found immediate resonance in Parliament too, where TMC leader Derek O'Brien raised the issue. However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, speaking in the Rajya Sabha, said the raid had nothing to do with Kejriwal or his tenure as Chief Minister.

He said the raids were being conducted on the officer in connection with matters pertaining to the period before he joined the present position.

Kejriwal reacted by saying, the “FM lied in Parliament. My own office files are being looked into to get some evidence against me. Rajender is an excuse.”

(With PTI inputs)