The Delhi government today told a court here that there was no threat to the life of a man who had complained against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others alleging irregularities in grant of contracts for roads and sewer lines.
The submission was made in a status report of the investigating officer on the behalf of Delhi Police as well as the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) of city government pursuant to the court’s direction issued on the last date of hearing.
However, the submission was opposed by complainant Rahul Sharma’s counsel Rishi Kapoor who said there was ample CCTV footage to support their claim that Sharma and his family were under grave threat.
The court has now put up the matter for arguments on a status report on September 27 when the CCTV footages will also be shown and placed before it.
The court was hearing a complaint of Sharma, founder of NGO Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO), seeking lodging of an FIR against Kejriwal, his brother-in-law Surender Bansal, proprietor of a construction firm and a public servant for alleged irregularities in grant of contracts for roads and sewer lines in Delhi. Bansal died in May this year.
Earlier, Sharma’s counsel had argued that Bansal had died under mysterious circumstances and the complainant was facing grave threat to his life.
He had claimed that the ACB had withheld a report given by the special cell of Delhi Police on the threat perception to the complainant, which should be placed before the court.
The court had on July 31 sought a status report regarding the complaint and the alleged threats given to the complainant and his family, while directing the SHO of the probe agency to look into the matter.
The ACB officer and prosecutor Balbir Singh had told the court 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.
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.
( Source – PTI )
