New Delhi: Delhi government's Principal secretary Rajender Kumar was arrested on Monday in a 50 crore corruption case involving purchase of computers. Know more about this disgraced IAS officer.
-Four others were arrested along with him, but the CBI, which was investigating the case, said Kumar is the kingpin of the scam.
-Kumar was earlier arrested for graft on the eve of his 50 birthday by the CBI.
-He is considered a close confidant of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
-An IAS official belonging to the 1989 batch of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, this isn’t Kumar’s first tryst with controversy.
-It started as soon as he was appointed as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister after a bitter struggle following the formation of the first Aam Aadmi Party government in late 2013, which was in power for 49 days, materialised to the current allegations of graft against him.
-Kejriwal had first received a complaint alleging that Kumar was involved in graft from international anti-graft watchdog Transparency International India on May 27, 2015.
-The complaint was received a fortnight before Ashish Joshi, a 1992-batch Indian Post and Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service (IP&TAFS) officer, moved the Delhi government Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) against Kumar on June 15.
-Apart from the Chief Minister, the complaint against Kumar was filed, and forwarded on behalf of an anonymous complainant to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Pranab Mukherjee and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
-On June 15, Joshi, who was suspended from his posting as member-secretary, Delhi Dialogue Commission on May 9, accused Kumar of corrupt practices related to the Information Technology (IT) sector in a complaint to Joint Commissioner of Police (Anti-Corruption Branch) Mukesh Kumar Meena.
-Claiming that ‘his knowledge of’ Kumar’s corruption had triggered his abrupt repatriation by the Delhi Government based on allegations of ‘misconduct and misbehaviour’, the complaint had resulted in the ACB sending a notice asking Kumar to join investigation related to Joshi’s allegations against him.
-During the course of implementation of e-governance initiatives in Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) as Chief Digitisation Officer, I learnt about the corrupt practices adopted by Shri Rajendra Kumar related to IT: Joshi reportedly wrote in his complaint.
-Kumar has been accused of setting up companies to provide work contracts without tenders at a huge loss to the Delhi government.
-As per CBI sources, the scam dates back to 2006, when Kumar started a front company, Endeavours Systems Private Limited, to provide IT solutions and software. The company empanelled with Public Sector Units to get government work without tenders.
