Delhi CM's ex-Principal Secretary appears in court

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's former Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar and others on Friday appeared before a court here in connection with a corruption case.

Kumar appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge Arvind Kumar in pursuance of summons issued against him in December 2017.

Rajendra Kumar, a 1989 batch IAS officer, was accused of abusing his official position in awarding Delhi government contracts totalling Rs 9.5 crore to private firm Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd (ESPL).

Arrested on July 4, 2016, on corruption charge, Rajendra Kumar was granted bail on July 26, 2016.

He has denied the charges against him which mainly relate to the period before Kejriwal became the Chief Minister.

Others accused, who appeared before the court were -- then Intelligent Communication System India Limited (ICSIL) Managing Director R.S. Kaushik and former MD G.K. Nanda, Kumar's aide Ashok Kumar, Endeavour Systems Private Limited directors Sandeep Kumar and Dinesh Kumar Gupta, former VAT Department Assistant Director Tarun Sharma and two Microsoft employees Jaydev Rath and Mukesh Mehta.

The company ESPL was represented by an authorised representative.

The court granted bail to Microsoft employees Jaydev Rath and Mukesh Mehta observing that they were not arrested during investigation in the case and have joined the investigation whenever required.

The court asked both to furnish a personal bond and surety bond of Rs one lakh and directed them not to leave country without permission.

The court directed the CBI to supply copies of chargesheet to accused and listed the matter for a February 28 hearing.

--IANS

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