FIR filed against DCW chief Swati Maliwal for 'illegally' hiring AAP supporters

Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal said she will answer the questions asked by the Anti-Corruption Branch within a week.

New Delhi: The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on Tuesday filed an FIR against Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal, a day after grilling her for over two hours in connection with allegations of "illegal" recruitment in the women's panel.

The FIR has been filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

"A case under sections 13(D) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the IPC has been registered against Maliwal," said a senior ACB officer.

Responding to the development, Maliwal said she is not scared about the FIR and maintained that she hasn't done anything wrong.

"Got to know that an FIR has been registered.I have no reason to be scared as I have not done anything wrong. If we have to change the system we will have to give some sacrifices."

"If somebody can prove corruption of a single rupee in my life, I will stop living. I am a follower of Laxmi Bai and Subhash Chandra Bose...I am not going be scared," she said in a series of tweets.

A team comprising five ACB officers reached the DCW office at 11 am on Monday.

The officers also handed over a questionnaire to Maliwal seeking her reply to 27 queries within a week's time.

The ACB has taken up the probe on a complaint by former DCW chief Barkha Shukla Singh, who alleged that several Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters were given plum posts in the women's panel.

Singh, in her complaint, listed the names of 85 people who, she claimed, got jobs "without requisite credentials".

"I have been asked 27 questions and given a week's time to reply. We have been asked how we did so many appointments to the women's panel. In a way, they are asking how did we manage to do so much work?" Maliwal, the wife of Naveen Jaihind, a close aide of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, told reporters after her questioning ended.

She termed the probe as an "attempt" to "silence" the women's panel that has been raising a lot of questions.

"In one year, we have handled 11,500 cases and attended 2.25 lakh calls on helpline number 181. The former DCW chief handled only one case. DCW asks questions whenever a rape is reported. This is disturbing a lot of people. But we will continue to raise questions," she said.

The DCW chief said she will answer the questions asked by the ACB within a week and "fully cooperate" with the probe by providing all documents sought by the investigative agency.

Maliwal alleged that Singh also appointed members to the panel during her tenure despite handling only one case in eight years.

"We followed the due process for appointing members to the panel. While she (Singh) appointed wives of IAS and IPS officers without giving an advertisement for recruitment. We have all the documents and we will give them to the ACB."

Maliwal asserted that all the appointments in her tenure have been made following the "due procedure" and nobody was being given any "benefit".

Last month, Arvind Kejriwal had asserted that there are numerous decisions of the Aam Aadmi Party government which the importance which Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to be reversed through Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, like the removal of DCW chief Swati Maliwal.

He had tweeted that sources have told him that the LG and PMO were “hell bent on removing Swati Maliwal 4 doing gud job. She’ll be arrested coming week n then removed.”

(With Agency inputs)