The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) to probe “irregularities and misconduct” regarding renovation of official bungalow of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Flagstaff Road in the national capital.
The CBI’s PE, which is prelude to an FIR, is against “unidentified public servants” of the Delhi government, the agency officials said.
It was alleged that nearly ₹45 crore was spent on the “addition/alteration” of Kejriwal’s residence by the Public Works Department (PWD) from September 2020 to June 2022. The latest move by the CBI comes after Kejriwal’s former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s arrest in the Delhi liquor scam, where the agency had alleged that the excise policy was tweaked to favour the liquor lobby.
Demands records
The CBI officials said the investigators have demanded official records relating to the approval and recommendation on CM’s house alteration, tender documents, bids submitted by contractors, approval of building plans and requests from the client for superior specifications like modular kitchen, marble flooring and other ornamental work, from the PWD department of the Delhi government. Fearing that the documents may be tempered with, Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena had ordered in April that files pertaining to the issue be secured.
Reacting to the CBI PE, the Aam Admi Party said that nothing would come out of the case and accused the BJP of “using all its power to finish AAP”. “This is the reason why the country’s best health and education ministers, Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia, were put behind bars,” it alleged. Delhi BJP President Virendraa Sachdeva, however, welcomed the CBI’s PE and stated that “the people of Delhi are happy because Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was wearing a cloak of honesty and now the investigation will reveal the corruption that happened”.