The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on Monday registered a case in connection with an alleged Rs. 400-crore water tanker scam in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).
According to sources, the case has been converted into an FIR under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and sections 120 (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
ACB chief Mukesh Kumar Meena issued a statement saying that since those named in the complaints included former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her successor Arvind Kejriwal, both would be quizzed in connection with the scam.
“An FIR has been registered and both of them will be quizzed,” Mr. Meena said.
Ms. Dikshit declined to comment when asked for her reaction to the ACB lodging an FIR against her.
“I don’t know what the FIR is about so how can I comment,” said Ms. Dikshit.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kejriwal took to Twitter to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi of vendetta against him.
“Modi ji , you did not file an FIR against Robert Vadra, you did not register an FIR against Sonia Gandhi or in any scam which you kept recalling time after time to become PM” he said.
Not afraid, says Kejriwal
Declaring that he wasn't afraid of either the CBI or the ACB, “both of which are under Mr. Modi”, Mr. Kejriwal said he “welcomed” the FIR against him.
“All the investigation agencies are under you – the CBI, Police, ACB. You have put all of them on to me. The CBI conducted a raid against me and found nothing. I welcome your (new) FIR,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Last week, the Delhi government had sent a report of a fact-finding committee on the scam to L-G Najeeb Jung.
Delhi BJP leader Vijender Gupta had also filed a complaint with Mr. Jung accusing Mr. Kejriwal of “suppressing” the committee’s report for 11 months.
The L-G had forwarded the committee’s report as well as Mr. Gupta’s complaint to the ACB following which these were converted into a Preliminary Enquiry (PE), which was converted into a criminal case on Monday.
After the L-G sent the complaints of the alleged tanker scam to the ACB last week, Ms. Dikshit had said that the charges were politically motivated.
She questioned why the alleged scam was being raked up three years after she demitted office, and why the same tankers were still being used by the DJB if there were any irregularities in the contract.
Last week, Delhi’s Water Minister Kapil Mishra had also written to PM Modi and Mr. Jung recommending that either the CBI or ACB probe Ms. Dikshit’s connection with the alleged scam.
“The report of the committee suggests that the acts of omission and commissions by the Delhi Jal Board under Ms. Dikshit has resulted in loss of approximately Rs. 400 crore to the exchequer,” Mr. Mishra had said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gupta said it was a “moral defeat” of Kejriwal as the ACB was looking into his complaint of delay on the part of the CM in recommending probe into the case.
“He had come to remove corruption but now it appears he himself has become a part of it,” Mr. Gupta said.
Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay welcomed registration of the FIR and demanded Mr. Kejriwal’s resignation.
