Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar arrested

The CBI on Monday arrested Rajendra Kumar, principal secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, for allegedly misusing his official position and facilitating tenders worth Rs 9.5 crore to a particular company.

Four others, including former assistant director of VAT department Tarun Sharma, were also arrested for alleged corruption.

Apart from Rajendra Kumar and Sharma, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested two directors of Endeavour Systems Private Limited Sandeep Kumar and Dinesh Kumar Gupta, and another person Ashok Kumar, an official said.

The CBI had on December 14, 2015 registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Rajendra Kumar for allegedly abusing his official position in awarding contracts from the city government to private firm Endeavour Systems Private Limited.

Six others were also named in the FIR by the CBI on a reference by the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi government.

The others booked in the case include two former managing directors of Intelligent Communication System India Limited (ICSIL) A.K. Duggal and G.K. Nanda, the present managing director of ICSIL R.S. Kaushik and the two arrested directors of Endeavour Systems Private Limited.

According to the FIR, Rajendra Kumar promoted a company, Endeavour System Pvt. Ltd.

Rajendra Kumar, a 1989 batch IAS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre, allegedly facilitated an award of five contracts worth Rs.9.5 crore to ICSIL and Endeavour Systems during 2007-2014.

A CBI official said that Kumar has emerged as the kingpin of the scam.

Without any government tendering process, Rajendra Kumar, when working as chairman of Delhi Transco Limited, allegedly facilitated an award of contract worth Rs 40.16 lakh to Endeavour Systems for the development of a comprehensive management information system in 2009, the official said.

"As a secretary in the health and family welfare department of the Delhi government, Rajendra allegedly awarded a Rs 2.43 crore manpower project in the health ministry to Endeavour Systems through ICSIL in November 2010. This tender was also not passed by the government," the official said.

Working as commissioner in trade and taxes department, Rajendra Kumar in May 2012 facilitated a project award of Rs 3.66 crore to Endeavour Systems through ICSIL for the development of software applications, the official said.

Rajendra Kumar, as a secretary of information and technology in the Delhi government, allowed a facility management system project worth Rs 45.5 lakh to Endeavour Systems in July 2013 without any government tender.

"As a secretary to Delhi CM, Rajendra ensured and allegedly facilitated a project of enterprise resources planning of Delhi Jal Board worth Rs.2.46 crore to Endeavour Systems in June 2014. This project was given to ICSIL by the Delhi Jal Board in February 2014 through a proper tendering process," the official said.

The CBI claimed that it had also confirmed the allegations through its own sources before filing a case on charges of criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI said the documents seized from the office of Rajendra Kumar reflected "criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct" and abuse of official position by the accused persons.

The CBI had conducted raid on Rajendra Kumar's office on December 15, 2015 at the Delhi Secretariat.

The arrest had provoked Kejriwal to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a series of tweets where he called the Prime Minister a psychopath and alleged that the real target of the CBI raid was he himself.

"When Modi couldn't handle me politically, he resorts to this cowardice. Modi is a coward and psychopath," Kejriwal had tweeted.

--IANS

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