Delhi Vigilance Minister Atishi on Thursday wrote to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the alleged involvement of Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, Divisional Commissioner Ashwani Kumar and others in a land deal, according to AAP sources.
The Chief Secretary had last week described the action against him as “vendetta”. The Divisional Commissioner had accused Ms. Atishi of “colluding with wrongdoers” while terming the allegations against the Chief Secretary “baseless”.
The case pertains to the acquisition of a 19-acre land parcel, which was acquired in south-west Delhi’s Bamnoli village by the National Highways Authority of India for the Dwarka Expressway project. The land deal allegedly led to undue benefits to one of the landowners, who is said to be linked to the business associate of the Chief Secretary’s son. Last week, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had asked the Vigilance Minister to launch a probe into the land deal.
The report said there was a “clear nexus” among the Chief Secretary, his son, and the landowner, who got “windfall gains” to the tune of hundreds of crores as the price of the land parcel was increased from around ₹41 crore to ₹897.1 crore.
Earlier this week, a preliminary report on the issue was submitted to the CM by Ms. Atishi, recommending the removal of the Chief Secretary and Divisional Commissioner.
‘Fit for ED probe’
AAP sources said the Vigilance Minister has informed ED and CBI that after the preliminary probe, it appeared that in view of the scale of the alleged corruption and prima facie establishment of the abuse of authority by the officials, the case should come under the purview of CBI’s Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
