In a significant development, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s trusted lieutenant and principal secretary Rajender Kumar has been summoned on Friday in the transport fitness scam by the anti-corruption branch (ACB) headed by joint commissioner of police Mukesh Kumar Meena.
Kumar was the first IAS officer who was handpicked by Kejriwal as his secretary during the 49-day AAP Government’s tenure in 2013.
Well placed sources said the ACB was also looking into the role of former chief secretary PK Tripathi into the fitness scam too. Also, the ACB has issued summons to about a dozen senior officers in connection with the scam, including former transport commissioner Virender Kumar, former additional transport commissioner S M Ali, deputy commissioners D R Arora and R P Gupta, Motor licensing Officers, Ajay Samal, Magan Singh, Subhash Chand, Ramanathan and Motor Vehicle Inspectors Maharaj Singh and Jagdish Prasad and PCO Vikas Jain.
These officers have been issued summons for appearance before the ACB on different dates between August 8 and August 21. Vasant Vihar MlO Anil Chikara and former deputy commissioner (transport) AK Bisht had already recorded their statement before the ACB.
In its report dated June 10, 2014, Justice (retired) Mukul Mudgal committee had stated the Delhi Government had overlooked the manner in which the name of the consultant company had “metamorphosed” into another, rapped the “lackadaisical manner” in which the change was handled, but indicted no Government functionary.
The committee noted there were “discrepancies in terms of how the name of the company had changed”, and that this had passed through various departments of the Delhi Government including Transport, Finance, law and Planning “undetected”.
The committee, however, said the “omission was not mala fide but was inadvertent in nature”. It had virtually given clean chit to senior officials of Delhi Government in the fitness scam.
The Mukul Mudgal committee was set up by lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to find whether any case was made out against the officials of the Delhi Government and who was responsible for the scam.
In 2012, RTI activist and BJP leader Vivek Garg had approached the ACB with documents he had got under the Act. The ACB registered a case and began investigations. The director of ESP USA in India, Nitin Manawat, and three others were arrested for allegedly creating the fake “ESP India” company. Senior Delhi Transport Department officials, including M A Usmani, V K Gupta and Ashok Gupta, too were arrested subsequently. Usmani’s interrogation threw up names of senior IAS and DANICS officers and central government ministers. In all, there were 11 accused in the case.
According to the ACB, the company conducted two fitness tests and charged for a third, which was neither required nor conducted. An amount of Rs 1,600 collected for each test was pocketed by the alleged scamsters, who skimmed off an estimated Rs 100 crore.
In 2002, the Delhi Government, following a Supreme Court order, ordered fitness tests on public transport vehicles using CNG, and hired ESP USA as consultant. However, another firm, “ESP India Pvt ltd”, was awarded the tender, allegedly with the collusion of officials and intention to steal funds, even before the company had been registered. File notings mentioned only “ESP”.