Fresh trouble for CM secretary, ED may file PMLA case

Fresh trouble seems to be in store for Rajendra Kumar, principal secretary to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) preparing to register a case against him under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

According to sources, the ED is scrutinising the FIR registered by the CBI against Mr Kumar. “The ED may soon register a a case against Kumar on the basis of FIR registered by the CBI,” the sources said. The CBI recently registered a case against Mr Kumar (a 1989-batch IAS officer of AGMU cadre) on the allegation of abusing his official position by favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders from Delhi government departments. The CBI also sleuths recovered about Rs 16 lakh, including Rs 2.4 lakh in cash during searches at the premises of Mr Kumar and others. Foreign currency of the value of Rs 3 lakh from the residence of Mr Kumar had also been recovered. The allegations against Mr Kumar were raised by Ashish Joshi, former member secretary, Delhi Dialogue Commission.

Apart from Mr Kumar, the CBI 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 its 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 Rs 9.5 crore to the company between 2007-14. The allegations against the bureaucrat was that he favoured companies by same set of persons during his stints in various departments of the Delhi government.

Besides, the ED is also preparing to register a separate against Sanjay Pratap Singh, a 1984-batch IAS officer of AGMU cadre, earlier posted with the Delhi government. Singh and his personal assistant Ramesh Kumar were recently arrested by the CBI for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2.2 lakh from a complainant.

Investigations by the CBI revealed that Singh allegedly acquired eight immovable properties in the posh localities of Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon. The agency sleuths also recovered documents pertaining to fixed deposits, worth several crores, during searches at his premises.