ACB grills 6 engineers in PWD scam linked to Kejriwal kin
SETBACK: The action follows filing of 3 cases against Bansal and senior PWD officers
NEW DELHI: Delhi’s AntiCorruption Branch (ACB) on Saturday interrogated six engineers of the Public Works Department (PWD) in connection with an alleged corruption of Rs 10 crore involving Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s late brother-in-law Surender Kumar Bansal.
“We ave questioned six engineers of the PWD today (Saturday),” ACB chief Mukesh Kumar Meena said.
However, he refused to share details. The ACB action follows filing of three cases on May 9 against Bansal and senior PWD officers in connection with the alleged corruption charge.
On May 9, the ACB had summoned the engineers to join the probe for their role in the scam.
The case involving Bansal, who died on May 7 in a Gurgaon hospital, relates to a drain project and improvement of kerbs from Shani Mandir to Bakoli village up to Drain No 6 on the National Highway-44.
The FIRs do not mention Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Kejriwal’s name, although complainant Rahul Sharma, Convener of NGO Road Anti-Corruption Organisation, had accused the Chief Minister of helping kin Bansal to get fake bills of around Rs 10 crore cleared.
The three FIRs were registered against Bansal and the PWD officers after it was discovered that the bills were cleared by different companies for different works. “Bansal got the pending bills of around Rs 10 crore cleared due to Kejriwal’s influence.
He set up three companies — Ranu Construction, Pawan Construction and Kamal Construction — in whose names he got the bills cleared from the PWD,” NGO’s General Secretary Vilav Awasthi said.
According to the officials, the ACB had questioned Sharma for a couple of hours on May 11. The ACB team also visited the PWD office to collect some files and documents scam the same day.
The matter was being investigated by the Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing, but it was later transferred to the ACB.
A day after Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashish Khetan allegedly received a death threat, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday expressed shock and urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to act in the matter.
“Extremely shocking. Ashish Khetan receives death threat. Hope Rajnath Singhji will take action,” Kejriwal tweeted on Saturday.
In a tweet, Khetan posted a letter wherein, he claimed, he was threatened with death by right-wing forces.
He said he received the letter on Friday night and it warned his “killing is imminent”. “Dear Rajnath Singh ji, hope that this government will carry out its duty of preserving liberty and democratic values; I am sending you this complaint,” Khetan tweeted on Saturday. related to the