Arvind Kejriwal, brother-in-law accused of corruption; Delhi police launch preliminary probe

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has launched a preliminary inquiry into allegations of forgery, cheating and fraud against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his brother-in-law and a public servant for alleged irregularities in grant of contracts for roads and sewer lines. Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing has initiated a preliminary inquiry into the allegations, a senior officer said today, adding that no FIR has been lodged in the matter. A complaint in this regard was lodged by Kislay Pandey, a lawyer, on behalf of the Roads Anti-Corruption Organisationb (RACO), an NGO. The complainant accused Kejriwal, his brother-in-law Surender Kumar Bansal, the proprietor of a construction company, and PK Kathuria, the then Executive Engineer in the Delhi government's Public Works Department (PWD), of indulging in corruption. The NGO, which claims to monitor public works, alleged that Bansal had submitted fake bills and invoices to the PWD. It also claimed that there were documents that showed no material was actually purchased for completing the works. The complaint alleged that the documents given to the PWD were "concocted and forged" by the accused, causing a loss of over Rs 10 crore to the public exchequer. It also alleged that the chief minister had caused substantive gains to Bansal and others by using his influence, adding that his role must also be probed. The complaint alleged that Bansal operated through several dummy firms to obtain government contracts "in connivance with various senior PWD officials", which never got executed "whereas, shockingly all the payments have been cleared under the pressure of Kejriwal".