BJP seeks FIR against ‘theft’ of Vigilance Dept. files; will file a defamation suit, says Bharadwaj

“The theft has been executed very cleanly. Files have been shifted out of the room of an official who does not favour the government to the room of one who does,” said Mr. Manoj Tiwari.

Delhi Services Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj. | Photo Credit: ANI

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The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday screened a purported video of files being “stolen” from the office of Special Secretary (Vigilance) Y.V.V.J. Rajasekhar on the intervening night of May 15-16 and demanded Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation.

Addressing the press conference, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said all the party MLAs and MPs from the city will give a written complaint to the Police Commissioner seeking an FIR in the case.

North East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari said, “The theft has been executed very cleanly. Files have been shifted out of the room of an official who does not favour the government to the room of one who does.”

In response, Services Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said he will file a defamation case against the BJP leaders for “blatantly lying about the handling of Vigilance Department files on May 16”.

Mr. Bidhuri said the incident explains why “Arvind Kejriwal wanted the [control over the] services — so that he gets the charge of the Anti-Corruption Branch and the Vigilance Department and can erase all the evidence linked with the corruption cases being probed against his government”.

‘Will launch probe’

Reacting to the allegations, Mr. Bharadwaj said, “It is a matter of written record that the files in the room of Special Secretary (Vigilance) were accessed by his immediate superior — Secretary (Vigilance) — on the intervening night of May 15 and 16. The Secretary was acting in his own wisdom and those files were never shared with any Minister of the Delhi government.”

He said, “It is a matter of grave concern that the CCTV footage of the Delhi Secretariat, which houses the offices of the Chief Minister and senior officials of the Delhi government, was so easily made accessible to a political party.”

The Minister added that a “high-level probe” will be launched into ascertaining the alleged role of the Chief Secretary in “planting false news ”.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary on May 16, Mr. Rajasekhar had alleged that his office had been searched the night before.