Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sought a probe report from his Vigilance Minister on a complaint alleging Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar's son was employed by a relative of a landowner who received an enhanced compensation for land acquired for a road project.  Kumar dubbed the complaint as an act of "mudslinging". "The disgruntled elements against whom vigilance action was taken are undertaking such mudslinging," the chief secretary said. He added that proactive action, including initiating a CBI probe, was ensured against the officer concerned.

According to sources, the chief minister marked the complaint, received by the Delhi government in October, to Vigilance Minister Atishi and sought a detailed report on it with facts. The vigilance minister's office said in a statement that allegation against the chief secretary was that he "benefitted his son's company by Rs 315 crore." The complaint has been sent to the vigilance minister for a detailed enquiry, it added.

 A 19-acre land at Bamnoli village in southwest Delhi was acquired by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the construction of Dwarka Expressway in 2018 and an initial award of Rs 41.52 crore was decided by the district authorities. The landowners had challenged the compensation and finally it was raised to Rs 353.79 crore by South West Delhi district magistrate Hemant Kumar in May this year.

 Hemant Kumar was later suspended by the Ministry of Home Affairs in the matter. Also, the Delhi High Court recently set aside the award of Rs 353.79 crore.

 It was alleged by the complainant that the Delhi chief secretary's son worked in a realty firm, a director of which was the son-in-law of Subhash Chand Kathuria, one of the owners of the land acquired in Bamnoli village. The award was raised to Rs 353.79 crore on May 15. Divisional Commissioner Ashwani Kumar on June 2 flagged the matter to the chief Secretary, government officers said.

 The chief secretary directed the divisional commissioner to monitor the matter on a fortnightly basis and later also asked the Directorate of Vigilance to probe it, they said. Sources said the Centre after considering the recommendations of the CVO-cum-Chief Secretary (which were sent to the Govt. of India with the approval of the Hon’ble Lt. Page 4 of 4 Governor), has referred the case to premier investigating agency CBI on October 20, to inquire into the matter.  “The matter has already been recommended to CBI for probe then there is no issue to raise it . Lets wait for the CBI probe outcome”, sources said adding the Delhi government is trying to divert the issue.

Further, departmental action against the district magistrate were recommended to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on September 20, they added.

The Delhi High Court recently set aside an award of Rs 353 crore passed by district magistrate Hemant Kumar in matter of compensation for land acquisition in southwest Delhi's Bamnoli village. During his tenure as the DM of South West district, the 2013-batch AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories)-cadre Indian Administrative Services officer, Hemant Kumar, as an arbitrator, had increased the compensation amount of the 19-acre land being acquired by National Highways Authority of India from Rs 41.5 crore to Rs 353.8 crore.