CBI files case on Kejriwal secretary, quizzes him

Officer accused of abusing official position by favouring particular firm in getting goverment tenders

The CBI on Tuesday registered a case against Rajendra Kumar, principal secretary to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, on the allegation of abusing his official position by favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders from the Delhi government departments.

Immediately after registering the case, the agency sleuths conducted searches at 14 places connected with Mr Kumar in the national capital and various locations in Uttar Pradesh. As the Opposition attacked the Centre over the CBI action, the agency went on an overdrive to convey that the raids were being undertaken after following a due process of law, which included getting a search warrant from the competent court.

The CBI spokesperson later said that reports from certain quarters regarding searches at the office of Delhi chief minister “are baseless”.

“False propaganda should not be used to impede our investigation,” the CBI spokesperson said, adding that the searches were being conducted against the principal secretary. The agency sleuths recovered about Rs 16 lakh, including Rs 2.4 lakh in cash, during the searches. Foreign currency of the value of Rs 3 lakh from the residence of Mr Kumar has also been recovered, sources added.

The CBI said it has registered a case against Mr Kumar and others on allegations against the officer that he abused his official position by favouring a particular firm, allegedly floated by him, in the last few years in getting tenders from the Delhi government departments. The allegations against Mr Kumar were raised by Ashish Joshi, former member secretary of Delhi Dialogue Commission, said the agency.

Apart from Mr 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. The agency claimed Mr Kumar was not cooperating with CBI sleuths in opening his email accounts. He is now being examined by the CBI officials at the agency headquarters.

The CBI alleged that Mr Kumar had prior association with Mr Sandeep Kumar and Mr D.K. Gupta, both directors of Endeavour, and he allegedly facilitated award of five contracts of worth Rs 9.5 crore to the company between 2007-14. The allegations against the bureaucrat was that he favoured private companies by same set of persons during his stints in various departments of the Delhi government. As chairman Delhi Transco in 2009, he allegedly facilitated contract worth Rs 40.5 lakh for development of comprehensive management information system to Endeavour without inviting tender, the CBI alleged. As secretary health and family welfare, he allegedly facilitated award of manpower project worth Rs 2.43 crore to Endeavour through ICSIL in November 2010 without inviting any tender.