New Delhi: In a big blow to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal his Principal Secretary, Rajendra Kumar was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for corruption on Monday.
This will deepen the political faultlines in Delhi and a red faced Kejriwal will be attacked by the BJP and Congress on the issue of corruption.
Rajendra Kumar has been arrested allegedly for corruption in a 50 crore scam to purchase computer and IT software. Kumar has been arrested along with Deputy Secretary, Tarun Sharma, and three others and all will be produced in the Patiala house court on Tuesday.
AAP has charged the Prime Minister of paralyzing their government, “Mr Prime Minister we will run the government even if you don’t leave a peon with us, it is a conspiracy against Arvind Kejriwal,” Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said in a news conference.
According to sources, scam dates back to 2006, when Rajendra Kumar started a front company, Endeavours Systems Private Ltd, to provide IT solutions and software.
Kumar favoured Endeavour Systems for all the technological work done by the Delhi government. The company was also empaneled with Public Sector Units to get government work without tenders.
In March 2007, rajinder Kumar initiated a proposal for empanelment of ICSIL for purchase of hardware and software for Delhi government.
As a quid pro quo , bribes worth 1.7 crore was paid by seal Infotech to Endeavour systems Pvt Ltd.
CBI, ACB, Punjab police-Modi ji has unleashed all the agencies in the country against one man-Arvind Kejriwal.
— Ashish Khetan (@AashishKhetan) July 4, 2016
CBI had earlier raided the office of the Delhi CM and had seized some files a few months back which had created a big furore.
Kumar is 1989 batch officer from the Indian Administrative Service and his arrest will damage the zero corruption image of the AAP government. Also arrested is Tarun Sharma, a Deputy Secretary in the Delhi government besides three other officials.
While the CBI has now arrested Arvind Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar, the most trusted bureaucrat of the AAP leader, on alleged corruption charges in a 50 crore scam, the AAP is calling it a political vendetta.
While BJP leaders see this as the first of the many AAP scandals to tumble out. While the guilty of corruption must be punished, the slug fest would only intensify. The victims will be residents of Delhi who will bear the brunt of no development and yet another round of mudslinging.