We had reported last month how an NGO, which had filed a complaint against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his brother-in-law Surender Kumar Bansal, was getting threats from various anonymous numbers. The NGO had registered a complaint about alleged irregularities in the contracts given to Bansal by the PWD. It was also alleged that in 2015-16, Bansal failed to complete certain contracts but got the whole payment due to the pressure exerted by Kejriwal.
A journalist named Viplava Awasthi working for Samachar Plus, has also claimed to have filed a corruption case against Kejriwal, his brother-in-law and others. And he too has complained about receiving threats. In fact, things took a serious turn in his case when he was assaulted and his car battered by unknown assailants, who threatened him not to appear in court on 25th February when the case comes up for hearing. They also threatened to kill him if he pursued the matter further.
The incident occurred in Noida near Delhi at around 8 PM on 22nd February, when Viplava Awasthi was returning home from work. A dark silver colored Swift car carrying three passengers overtook his car and two of them stepped out and made him stop his car. One started to vandalize his car while the other grabbed him by his throat and threatened to kill him if he attended the court proceedings against the Delhi Chief Minister and his brother-in-law on 25th February, Awasthi claims.
After the incident, the journalist proceeded to file an FIR against the unknown assailants. The FIR mentions that he was abused, assaulted, and threatened to be killed if he appeared in the court for the corruption case against Arvind Kejriwal:
Journalist’s claims were also supported by a Delhi based advocate:
While only police investigations will reveal who were the assailants and if they were working on someone’s orders, this does raise the question as to why those who talk about corruption related to Arvind Kejriwal receive threats from certain quarters.
