At a time when Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal is facing a barrage of allegations from sacked minister Kapil Mishra, there is another scandal which has rocked the Delhi governmnt.
It has been alleged that Surendra Kumar Bansal, the brother-in-law of Delhi Chief Minister had indulged in corruption by violating the laid-down procedures in the civic projects awarded to him by the state government.
Mr. Bansal breathed his last on 7 May at Medanta hospital in Gurugram. Bansal reportedly died of a brain stroke.
As per documents received via RTI, it has been alleged that Bansal had submitted forged bills and invoices to the Public Works Department (PWD) to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore for carrying out a fraudulent project. The civic project, meant for building roads and laying of sewer lines in Delhi, was commissioned by the PWD Department, which is currently under minister Satyendar Jain.
The Renu Construction Company, owned by Bansal, was awarded a drainage project at Bakoli village along NH-44 in north-west Delhi in 2015. As per official records of the PWD Department, the Renu Construction had won the tender for “quoting the lowest bid”.
But official documents obtained by Road Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO), an NGO that claims to monitor public works, in response to its RTI petition states that Bansal, on paper, had shown procuring construction material for the drainage project from a company called Mahadev Impex. Subsequently, the drainage project was cleared by Delhi’s PWD department, pending its completion. But interestingly, the said company Mahadev Impex is non-existent. In the process, Bansal has allegedly swindled the PWD to the tune of Rs 10 crore.
RACO had filed a complaint with Delhi Police in January in connection to the fraud. “The RTI replies stated that there were no purchases made by Renu Construction for the construction of the drain. In fact, there was no such company called Mahadev Impex in Rohtak, as was mentioned by Bansal’s firm,” Viplava Awasthi of RACO said.
“We demand a thorough probe into the PWD’s working. The chief minister doesn’t appear to be above board. He must also be subject to investigation into the forgery case involving his relative,” Awasthi was quoted as saying.
It should be noted that sacked Delhi minister Kapil Mishra also alleged that PWD minister Satyendra Jain had arranged a whopping Rs 50-crore land deal for Bansal. Mishra had also claimed that Jain had given 2 crore rupees in cash to Arvind Kejriwal. Mishra too is now demanding an inquiry into the incident.
“Should we stop raising questions about how the entire Bansal family, Bansal’s companies might have benefitted through wrongful land deals, illegal PWD bills just because he (Surender Bansal) is no more?” the former Delhi water minister was quoted as saying.
The Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police is probing corruption charges. The Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) of Delhi Police has registered three separate FIRs against Kejriwal’s late brother-in-law and senior PWD officers in connection to the case.
“Names of fake companies were used to clear the bills when there was no work done. We have registered the case against Bansal and senior PWD officials. Separate cases have been filed because the bills were cleared by different companies for different work,” ACB chief Mukesh Meena said.
Meanwhile, Viplava Awasthi of RACO has lodged an FIR at Delhi’s IP Extension Police Station demanding investigations into the death of Surender Kumar Bansal under “highly suspicious circumstances”.
पीडब्ल्यूडी घोटाले में केजरीवाल के साढ़ू सुरेन्द्र बंसल की संदेहास्पद मौत पर पुलिस को शिकायत कर FIR की माँग, आईपीस्टेट थाने में अर्ज़ी pic.twitter.com/Ug8lOaebYK
— Viplava Awasthi (@viplavaawasthi) May 9, 2017
Aam Aadmi Party meanwhile has decided to focus on EVM hacking theory.
