Did the CBI go overboard during the December 15 > raid on IAS officer Rajendra Kumar , Principal Secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal?
The Aam Aadmi Party has accused the Central government of unleashing the CBI to raid its Chief Minister’s Office, as well as using the agency to look for files related to allegations of corruption in the administration of cricket in the capital, of which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been an integral part. On Wednesday, a local CBI court > told the agency that it “cannot be clothed with divine powers” to flout its own rules, ordering it to hand over documents not related to the case to the Delhi government.
According to official documents accessed by The Hindu , the CBI may have misled the media on a few critical aspects in its investigation against Mr. Kumar, a winner of the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration. Also, it may have filed a case under the Excise Act against Mr. Kumar, where none existed.
The CBI did not respond to a questionnaire sent by The Hindu on January 1. However, a senior official said their probe was unearthing more details about Mr. Kumar’s role in routing contracts to Endeavour Systems Private Limited, a private company they claim was a proxy for him.
According to the Search List — it contains the details of property seized by the CBI — prepared on the December 15, the day of the raid: “The email ID and password of Sh Rajendra Kumar was also obtained and the password of email ID has been changed through Sh Sushil Kumar, Asst programmer, CBI, ACB Delhi.”
The statement went against the informal briefing to the media at the CBI headquarters on December 15, during which the agency claimed that Mr. Kumar was not parting with his email ID and password.
The List has been signed by Jayant Kashmiri, a Deputy SP of the CBI, and by other officers and independent witnesses, besides Mr. Kumar himself.
The second aspect of the raid that has further raised questions is the FIR filed on the day of the raid under the Delhi Excise Act against Mr. Kumar. The FIR is for allegedly possessing more liquor than legally allowed. The FIR said the CBI found 11.75 litres of sealed liquor bottles from the house, besides three unsealed bottles. The maximum liquor thus recovered was 14 litres.
Excise inspector Rajesh Batra, who endorsed Deputy SP Kashmiri’s complaint to the SHO, said the maximum quantity of intoxicant that a person above 25 years old could possess in Delhi is: Indian and foreign liquor - nine litres; and wine, beer etc. – 18 litres.
“The undersigned found that these (sic) were 2 (two) persons i.e., Rajender (sic) Kumar IAS and his wife Mrs. Kumar were present at the time of visit at the premises.” Meaning they could have legally possessed a maximum of 18 litres of hard liquor, and what was seized was within legal limits. The CBI also did not respond to the query on this.
These facts come even as the CBI on Wednesday faced tough questions and an adverse order from the local CBI court, which said: “The CBI cannot retain the documents in the garb of the argument that investigation is in progress without whispering the fact in what manner they are related to the present case,” Special CBI Judge Ajay Kumar Jain said. The CBI has now moved the High Court against the order, while a senior CBI official insisted that the court order pertained to just about 10 files. The CBI court wanted the agency spell out the specific findings, but “we took the stand that it is premature to reveal any specifics of the investigation,” he said.
Who said what
“ Modi is a coward and a psyhcopath... When Modi couldn't handle me politically, he resorts to this cowardice. ”
“ Mr. Kejriwal seems to believe in untruth and defamation, delivered in a language that borders on hysteria. ”
“ Don’t go by rumours that I have been gagged, my fight is against corruption in sports and it shall continue ”
How the events unfolded
CBI raids the Delhi CM ‘s office.
A Central Bureau of Investigation raid on the secretariat of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday morning triggered a political storm, with a united opposition accusing the Narendra Modi government of political vendetta using the CBI. Following the raid, the Delhi CM was locked out of his office for the day. Read more
Kejriwal takes to Twitter
CBI raids my office
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 15, 2015When Modi cudn't handle me politically, he resorts to this cowardice
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) >December 15, 2015Modi is a coward and a psycopath
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) >December 15, 2015Parliament disrupted
Parliament saw an uproar over the raid on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office, with Opposition parties rallying behind the AAP leader. Rajya Sabha was adjourned after uproar over CBI raids at Delhi Secretariat. Read more
Government responds
Centre said the raids were conducted on Mr. Kejriwal's Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar who has been named as an accused in a corruption case.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar reacts to the Delhi raids (watch)
Who is Rajendra Kumar?
- » Principal Secretary of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
- » An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official belonging to the 1989 batch of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre.
- »The Hindu has learnt that Mr. Kejriwal had first received a complaint alleging that Mr. Kumar was involved in graft from international anti-graft watchdog Transparency International India on May 27, 2015.
Kejriwal names Jaitley
On December 15th evening, Mr. Kejriwal organised a press conference during which he claimed the CBI sleuths were looking for files pertaining to the DDCA scam.
The real purpose of the CBI raid in his office was to spirit away a file in which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was the central figure in a scam pertaining to the Delhi and District Cricket Association, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has alleged.
“Which file was CBI looking for in my office? DDCA files in which Arun Jaitley is in dock. I was about to order a commission of enquiry,” he later tweeted.
More ‘Evidence’
Terming the alleged DDCA scam as the 'Commonwealth Games Scam of Cricket,' AAP held a press conference to 'expose' the alleged massive corruption in DDCA, when it was headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Read more
Jaitley’s response
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accused Kejriwal of spreading “false propaganda”, saying he seems to believe in untruth and defamation and delivers a language that borders on hysteria.
By referring to some facts of 2014 and 2015, Mr. Kejriwal cannot drag him in the Delhi cricket body case as he left cricket administration in 2013, he said. Read more
