Raids on premises of Delhi CM’s PA

 

 

 

 

 

THE Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday searched some premises of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal assistant Bibhav Kumar and others as part of its probe into charges that the AAP received kickbacks of Rs 17 crore through “irregularities” in a Delhi Jal Board tender, official sources said. This action is part of a money laundering investigation focusing on alleged bribes that were garnered through irregularities in the DJB tendering process and purportedly channelled as election funds to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the officials said. A dozen premises in the national capital were searched by the federal agency’s officials from 7 am under the PMLA.

 

The residences of Bibhav Kumar, former Delhi Jal Board member Shalabh Kumar and others were covered in the search action. In response to the raids, Delhi Minister Atishi accused the authorities of attempting to “intimidate” the AAP. These searches are related to an investigation concerning alleged irregularities in the tendering process of the Delhi Jal Board, for which the ED had previously arrested retired Jal Board chief engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora and contractor Anil Kumar Aggarwal on January 31. Following the ED’s assertion that further custodial interrogation was necessary to uncover a “larger conspiracy,” a special PMLA court had extended their remand by five days on Monday. The money laundering case originated from a CBI FIR that alleged corruption and bribery in the Delhi Jal Board of the Delhi Government. The FIR alleged that Arora awarded contracts to NKG Infrastructure Ltd. For a total cost of Rs 38 crore, despite the company’s failure to meet the technical eligibility criteria.