Lashing out at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday claimed that the agency did not follow proper procedure for summoning his officials, a charge firmly
Lashing out at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday claimed that the agency did not follow proper procedure for summoning his officials, a charge firmly refuted by the agency. CBI sources said the questioning of personal staff of the chief minister’s principal secretary Rajendra Kumar by the agency was approved by Mr Kejriwal himself as mentioned in a written correspondence from the Delhi Secretariat on Monday.
The agency, however, rubbished Mr Kejriwal’s claim that the officials were called for questioning over phone. CBI sources said all necessary formalities were done through correspondence. The agency’s response came after the chief minister took to microblogging site Twitter to claim that his staff had been summoned “on phone without notice”. He also claimed 150 officers have been summoned so far in this manner.
Citing a link of a newspaper report, Mr Kejriwal tweeted, “CBI summons Delhi CM staff ‘informally’ on phone without notice. Staff of other ministers’ called earlier like this.” He said the government has nothing to hide, but the CBI should follow proper procedure.
In series of his tweets, Mr Kejriwal said, “Which sec of CrPC empowers CBI to summon on ph Till now, more than 150 officers summoned on ph(sic)”. “We hv nothing to hide. I hv told all officers to cooperate. But CBI shud follow law — summon thro proper notices(sic).”
CBI sources said the response from authorities in the Secretariat said the questioning has approval from the chief minister. It also asked the CBI not to seek their presence together as it will hamper the work, which was agreed to by the agency.
They said Mr Kumar’s staff has been called for questioning in connection with the ongoing investigation into graft allegations against Mr Kumar. The CBI on Tuesday examined J.S. Rawat, PA to Rajendra Kumar, principal secretary to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, in connection with the case. The agency will also examine two more officials posted at the office of Mr Kumar in connection with a corruption case against him on Wednesday.
The agency had recently registered a case against Mr 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.
Apart from Mr Kumar, the agency 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 CBI alleged that Mr Kumar had prior association with Sandeep Kumar and D.K. Gupta, both directors of Endeavour, and he allegedly facilitated award of five contracts of worth '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 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 Nov 2010 without inviting any tender. As Commissioner Trade and Taxes, he allegedly facilitated award of a project for development of Software Application for Rs 3.66 crore for dept of Trade and Taxes to Endeavour through ICICSL in May 2012. Though Trade and Taxes contract were awarded through tender, conditions were tailor made to suit the company, the CBI alleged.
