CBI raid on Delhi Secretariat not 'political vendetta': Prashant Bhushan

With the AAP and BJP engaging in mudslinging over the CBI raid on the Delhi Secretariat, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday said that people under scrutiny can't be protected merely because they happen to be the right hand men of a politician.

Bhushan ruled out assertions that it was political vendetta by the Centre against the AAP.

"The charges against Rajender Prasad are somewhat old,but substantial. I don't know when the CBI got the complaint regarding the charges and when they registered the FIR. But merely because he is raided and he happens to be the Principal Secretary and a trusted man of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal does not make the raid a political vendetta," Bhushan told ANI.

"After all, if there is a substantial case against a person who may happen to be Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, then he needs to be investigated," he added.

Kejriwal earlier claimed that the CBI raided his office at the behest of Prime Minister Modi. He also went as far as to call the Prime Minister a 'coward and a psychopath'.

"CBI lying. My own office raided. Files of CM office are being looked into. Let Modi say which file he wants?" Kejriwal tweeted.

"I am the only CM who dismissed, on my own, a minister n a senior officer on charges of corruption and handed their cases to CBI. If CBI had any evidence against Rajender, why didn't they share it wid me? I wud hv acted against him," he said in another tweet.

The CBI has registered a case against Kejriwal's Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar for allegedly favouring a firm in getting contracts from Delhi government.

"FM lied in Parliament. My own office files are being looked into to get some evidence against me. Rajender is an excuse," tweeted Kejriwal.

Refuting Kejriwal's allegation on the raid on Chief Minister's office, the CBI has said that the raid was conducted on the Principal Secretary's office following receipt of a warrant from the designated court.