CBI raids 14 places in connection with graft charge

New Delhi: CBI on Tuesday set off a political storm when it carried out raids in 14 places in a corruption case against Rajendra Kumar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Principal Secretary, and six others.

As opposition attacked the Centre over the CBI action, the agency went on an overdrive to convey that the raids were being undertaken after following a due a process of law which included getting a search warrant from the competent court.

The dramatic event unfolded in the morning at the Delhi Secretariat when over a dozen sleuths of CBI descended with a search warrant to raid Gupta, an IAS officer of 1989 batch, in connection with a case registered against him for allegedly favouring certain companies in getting contracts from Delhi Government.

As the CBI team reached the third floor office of Gupta, a surprised Delhi Chief Minister tweeted that his office had been raided by the agency.

Dismissing the claim, the CBI spokesperson said that reports from "certain quarters" regarding searches at the office of the Chief Minister "are baseless" and cautioned that "false propaganda should not be used to impede our investigation."

Unfazed by CBI clarifications, Kejriwal continued to fire tweet after tweet and termed the CBI action as an "undeclared emergency". "CBI lying. My own office raided. Files of CM office are being looked into. Let Modi say which file he wants?" he said. The CBI said it has registered a case against Kumar and others on allegations against the officer that he abused his official position by "favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders from Delhi government departments".

Kumar has been booked under 120-B of IPC (criminal conspiracy), and 13(2), 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Criminal conspiracy, criminal misconduct etc) for allegedly favouring a private company in five contracts worth Rs 9.5 crore during 2007-14.

Kumar, whose residence was among the places raided, was quizzed by the CBI sleuths after the searches. In all, CBI carried out searches at 14 places connected with Kumar in the national capital and various locations in Uttar Pradesh Gupta and claimed to have recovered about Rs 16 lakh, including Rs 2.4 lakh in cash. Foreign currency of the value of Rs 3 lakh from the residence of Kumar, CBI claimed.

"After taking warrants, searches are being conducted in the office and residence of Rajendra Kumar. The allegations against Kumar were raised by Ashish Joshi, former Member Secretary, Delhi Dialogue Commission," the CBI said.