A relative of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) in connection with the PWD scam, even as the ruling AAP alleged that the move was aimed at “maligning” the image of the party supremo and harass his kin.
Vinay Bansal, son of Kejriwal’s brother-in-law, was arrested on Thursday morning from his residence in north west Delhi’s Pitampura area, a senior ACB official said.
Reacting to the development, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “In the last three years, the Delhi Police and the ACB worked only for the central government and the LG, and to trouble the AAP leaders and their relatives”.
Three FIRs, including one against a company run by the chief minister’s brother-in-law Surender Bansal, were registered by the ACB in the PWD scam case on May 9 last year.
Three companies, including Renu Constructions (owned by Bansal, Kamal Singh and Pawan Kumar), were included in the FIRs.
In a complaint, Rahul Sharma, founder of Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO), had alleged that Kejriwal and PWD minister Satyendra Jain misused their office for grant of contracts to Bansal. However, they were not named in the FIR.
RACO, an organisation which claims to monitor construction projects in the national capital, had alleged that a firm linked to Bansal was involved in financial irregularities in building a drainage system in north-west Delhi.
It was also alleged that the bills sent to the Public Works Department (PWD) for unfinished works were “false and fabricated”.
AAP’s Delhi unit chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said the arrest was an attempt to malign the chief minister’s image and harass his relatives.
He said the contract in question was given to Bansal’s company in January, 2015 while Kejriwal came to power a month later.
“Contractors are asked to submit bills of the material used to ensure their quality. The quality of all this material has been inspected and certified by IIT Roorkee and SriRam Labs. These two are the most reputed labs in the country. So, where is the scam?” Bharadwaj tweeted.
However, the Anti-Corruption Branch defended the arrest of the chief minister’s kin.
“This is not an arrest made in haste. Bansal was evasive during questioning. He earlier claimed that he was not an active partner in the company, but it was found out that he owned 50 per cent of the shares along with his father,” the official added.
