Delhi: Delhi government on Wednesday suspended Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar, who is in CBI remand at present in connection with corruption case.
As per rules, if an officer is in custody for 48 hours, then he is automatically suspended.
On July 05, a special court had sent Kumar and four others to five days CBI remand, as the agency had claimed that "lies" were being spread about the IAS officer that he was holding the Delhi government like the mythological 'Seshnag'.
"It is a historical case in Indian democracy. The accused was a public servant acting as principal secretary and the investigation was fairly conducted. Dignity and purity of public institutions have to be maintained. A pack of lies is being spread in the media that Rajendra Kumar is holding the government like a 'Seshnag' and if he goes, all the (Delhi) government will go," the CBI had told the special court, as per PTI.
(In Indian mythology, Seshnag is the king of all snakes (or nagas), has numerous hoods and is said to hold all the planets of the universe on his hoods.)
The court had sent Kumar and four others to five-day CBI custody, with the agency also claiming that the "influential" IAS officer was intimidating witnesses.
Besides Kumar, the others remanded were Deputy Secretary in Kejriwal's office Tarun Sharma, Kumar's alleged close aide Ashok Kumar and Directors of Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd (ESPL), Sandeep Kumar and Dinesh Kumar Gupta.
Kumar was arrested on July 04. The charges pressed by the CBI are under sections 120-B of IPC (criminal conspiracy), and 13(2), 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Criminal conspiracy, criminal misconduct etc) for allegedly favouring a private company - Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd - in bagging five contracts.
The CBI has alleged that the accused persons had entered into a criminal conspiracy and caused a loss of Rs 12 crore to the Delhi government in award of contracts between 2007 and 2015, and claimed that the officials had taken "undue benefit" of over Rs three crore while awarding the contract.
(With PTI inputs)
