Court issues second production warrant for Kejriwal relative

NEWDELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday issued a second production warrant against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s relative Vinay Bansal, arrested in connection with an alleged scam in the Public Works Department (PWD), after Tihar jail authorities failed to produce him before it.

The first production warrant for Bansal, a nephew of Kejriwal, was issued on Friday by additional sessions judge Sanjay Khanagwal, who had also sought an explanation from the Tihar jail superintendent for failing to produce him.

On Saturday, duty metropolitan magistrate Shilpa Jain sought Bansal’s presence in the court on Sunday.

Bansal was admitted to a hospital and sent to one-day judicial remand after he fainted in the courtroom on May 10, when the court rejected the anti-corruption branch’s plea for Bansal’s three-day police remand, saying he was not medically fit.

In a courtroom packed with lawyers and mediapersons, Bansal fainted during the hearing and a stretcher was brought to take him to an ambulance stationed outside the court.

Bansal on Friday moved a bail application, which will be heard on Monday.

Previously, the public prosecutor had argued that Bansal’s custodial interrogation was necessary to dig out the facts in the case.

Opposing the remand, Bansal’s counsel BS Joon said the FIR was filed in 2017 and since then no evidence has been found against the accused. He said the FIR wrongly levelled allegations under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, which are meant for public servants and Bansal was not one.

Bansal, the son of Kejriwal’s late brother-in-law Surender Bansal, was arrested on May 10 by the ACB. Three FIRS, including one against a company run by Surender Bansal, were registered by the ACB in connection with the matter on May 9 last year.

Three companies, including Renu Constructions (owned by Bansal, Kamal Singh and Pawan Kumar), were named in the FIRS.