PWD contracts: Court calls for status report from ACB

A special court today directed the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) to file a status report on a complaint against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others in alleged irregularities in grant of contracts for roads and sewer lines.
The court also asked the ACB to submit on September 1, a report regarding alleged threats given to the complainant and his family.
"ACB seeks time to file the status report and also a report regarding threats, if any, to the complainant and his family and provide security, if required," special judge Poonam Chaudhry said while directing the SHO of the probe agency to look into the matter.

During the hearing, the court asked the ACB officer and the prosecutor about the report regarding threats allegedly given to complainant Rahul Sharma as ordered by it earlier.
To this, the officer and prosecutor Balbir Singh said that previous reports on alleged threat perceptions were already on record and according to the Uttar Pradesh Police, there was no threat to the complainant's life.
The court, however, said, "Can the court place reliance on previous reports (filed before another court)? The complainant is alleging threats, you file a report on it."

Senior advocate Ajay Burman, appearing for Sharma, argued that Surender Bansal who was an accused in the case has died under mysterious circumstances and the complainant who is running an NGO is facing grave threat to his life.

He further claimed that the ACB has withheld a report given by the special cell of Delhi Police on threat perception to the complainant and it should be placed before the court.
The court was hearing a complaint filed by Sharma, founder of Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO), seeking a direction to the police to lodge an FIR against Kejriwal, his brother-in-law Surender Bansal, proprietor of a construction firm and a public servant for alleged irregularities in the grant of contracts for roads and sewer lines in Delhi. Bansal died in May this year.
During pendency of the complaint in the court, the ACB had registered three FIRs on its own on May 8 regarding alleged irregularities in granting the contracts.

A magisterial court had earlier directed the ACB to assess the threat perception regarding Sharma again after he submitted that on May 30 two unidentified motorcycle-borne persons fired gun shots at him when he was travelling in his car along with a cousin.
In his complaint, Sharma has alleged "deep-rooted corruption" in the road and sewer line projects, claiming that documents showing purchase of material were "concocted and forged" and a loss of over Rs 10 crore had been caused to the public exchequer.