Delhi govt mulling FIR against CBI officer

The Delhi government is contemplating legal options to register a police complaint against the officers of Central Bureau of Investigation for pressurising an official of excise department of the Delhi government to lodge a complaint against Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar for possessing 14 bottles of liquor.

“As per excise rules, nine litre of wine plus 18 beer units per person are permissible in the city.

‘‘There were two persons in the house and only 14 bottles of liquor were found which were under the permissible limit,” said a senior officer of Delhi government questioning the rationality of FIR against Kumar in the case.

“We are consulting our legal experts to lodge an FIR against the concerned CBI officer and are also going to court on the issue,” he added. The officers in the Chief Minister’s Office are not ready to buy the argument that CBI raid was in connection with the old case of corruption against Kumar.

Meanwhile, Kumar was again summoned for questioning in the CBI headquarters on Thursday.

“It’s the old trick of the CBI to break the morale of the officer but we are ready with our legal team to defend the case in the court,” added the officer.

A team of eminent lawyers headed by advocate B S Joon will defend Kumar in the cases against CBI.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh said Kumar, who serves as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s principal secretary, has a clean service record that spans over 27 years, in which allegations of corruption were never made against him.

“You are asking why Kejriwal kept a corrupt official like Rajender Kumar? Kumar has served for 27 years. Has there ever been a probe over allegations of corruption against him?

“In the last 27 years, there has not been a single allegation of corruption against Rajender Kumar. The media should not distort facts. It is also showing that Rs 28 lakh was recovered from his salary account. Does a salary account contain unaccounted money?” Singh asked.

The raid by CBI on the office of Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar in connection with a corruption case had set off a bitter war of words between Kejriwal and the BJP. The CBI has denied that Kejriwal’s office, located in secretariat, was searched.

“This is a complete murder of democracy and the Aam Aadmi Party feels it is imperative for all persons who value their freedom to protest against this unannounced emergency,” AAP national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon had  said.

Kumar, a 1989-batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre, is facing probe for purportedly favouring a software firm in his capacity as a senior bureaucrat in the Sheila Dikshit dispensation.