Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary in 5-day police remand
05 July, New Delhi
Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar Tuesday ordered five-day CBI custody to Rajendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and four others in an alleged corruption case.
The investigating agency alleged that Kumar has abused his official position to award contracts to M/s Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd between 2007 and 2014. He has been booked under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The CBI submitted that Kumar and other co-accused were not cooperating with the agency during the interrogation, besides he also intimidated the witnesses. ”Kumar is a highly placed bureaucrat and a fair investigation cannot be done if he continues to intimidate witnesses in the case,” CBI sources said.More UNI XC SW RP1915 The investigating agency requested that it needed to confront with other accused and relevant documents in this regard and sought extension of the custody from five to 10 days.
The probe agency further submitted that their custody was needed to investigate the money trail.The judge also inquired with the CBI on the issue. The CBI said “Yes, we have recorded the statements of such witnesses.”
The agency further alleged that there was a nexus among the arrested accused and Kumar was well-acquainted with all of them and that they had conspired in award of contract to Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd. Counsel for Kumar opposed the custody application of the CBI saying that no ground has been mentioned in the agency’s plea which reflects that the CBI remand was required.
He said there was no single paper on record which suggested that his client had any relation with other arrested accused. The counsel added that all the accused had participated in the investigation and hence there was no need to arrest them and they had also cooperated in the probe and there was no ground to arrest them.
Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar after hearing the arguments ordered five-day CBI custody to the Prinicipal Secretary, Deputy Secretary in Kejriwal’s office Tarun Sharma, Kumar’s close aide Ashok Kumar and owners of a private firm Sandeep Kumar and Dinesh Gupta.