A day after registering a corruption case against the Principal Secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Rajendra Kumar, and six others, the CBI on Tuesday conducted searches at the official and residential premises of the senior IAS officer. The raids triggered a political storm with Kejriwal alleging that his office was searched at the behest of the NDA Government. However, the agency strongly denied the charges that its sleuths also raided the Delhi Chief Minister’s Office.
The CBI also denied Kejriwal’s allegations that the raids were targeted against him and said the searches were conducted only at the premises of Kumar and six other accused people and entities.
In all, the CBI carried out searches at 14 places, including two related to Kumar in the national Capital and at various locations in Uttar Pradesh, and claimed to have recovered about Rs16 lakh, including Rs2.4 lakh in cash. Foreign currency of the value of Rs3 lakh was also recovered from the residence of Kumar, CBI sources said.
The agency said it had registered a case against Kumar and six others on allegations against the officer that he abused his official position by “favouring a particular firm for the last few years in getting tenders from Delhi Government departments”.
Kumar, along with the others, has been booked for criminal conspiracy (120-B of the IPC) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, relating to criminal misconduct by a public servant.
A CBI spokesperson said Kumar allegedly favoured the company through five contracts worth Rs9.5 crore, that were awarded from 2007-2014.
“After taking warrants, searches were conducted at the office and residence of Kumar. The allegations against Kumar were raised by Ashish Joshi, former Member Secretary, Delhi Dialogue Commission,” the CBI said, adding the case was registered after verification of the allegations by the agency.
The CBI spokesperson later said that reports from certain quarters regarding searches at the office of Delhi Chief Minister were “baseless”.
A senior CBI official said the case was registered after gathering sufficient material to prima facie establish the criminal case, after the sleuths conducted discreet verification of the allegations. The search warrant was issued after the court was convinced about the legal merits of the case and prima facie criminality involved in the allegations.
The official said Kumar was not cooperating during questioning and was unwilling to provide the password of his e-mail account.
The CBI raided Kumar’s office at the Delhi Secretariat and residence at New Friends Colony (East), MD of Delhi Government PSU Intelligent Communication Systems India ltd. (ICSIl) RS Kaushik’s official premises at Administrative Building, Industrial Estate, Okhla and residence at Vasant Kunj, the then MD of ICSIl GK Nanda’s premises at Asian Games Village, former MD of ICSIl AK Duggal and Sandeep Kumar and Dinesh Gupta of private firm Endeavour Systems Pvt ltd.
Duggal’s premises at Vikaspuri, Dinesh Gupta’s two premises at Ashok Vihar and Sandeep Kumar’s residence at Vasundhara in Ghaziabad were also searched till late in the evening.
Kumar had deep links with the accused firm Endeavour Systems Pvt ltd and the modus operandi was to grant jobs to ICSIl that in turn awarded contracts to the private firm without following due procedures like tendering.
Officials said the searches yielded Rs 10.5 lakh during raids at Nanda’s premises and documents pertaining to three immovable properties have been recovered from the residence of Kumar.
According to the CBI’s FIR, five contracts awarded by Kumar between 2009 and 2014 for Rs 9.5 crore are under the scanner. CBI sources said the Principal Secretary had prior association with Endeavour’s promoters.
These include a contract for Rs 40.16 lakh for development of comprehensive Management Information System to Endeavour during Kumar’s stint as Delhi Transco ltd boss without tendering.
During Kumar’s posting as Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, a manpower project worth Rs 2.43 crore was awarded to Endeavour through ICSIl in November 2010, also without any tenders being floated.
As Commissioner of Trade and Taxes, he allegedly facilitated award of a project for development of software worth Rs 3.66 crore for the department to Endeavour through ICSIl in May 2012.
As Secretary of Information Technology, he allegedly facilitated award of a project for facility management system for Trade and Taxes Department to Endeavour worth Rs 45.50 lakh.
In June 2014, he allegedly assigned an award of a project relating to Enterprise Resource Planning for Delhi Jal Board worth Rs 2.46 crore.