Kejriwal continues tirade against Centre for CBI misuse

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government attacked the Centre for the second day on Wednesday with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia sticking to their claim that the CBI raid on Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) was aimed at saving Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the alleged Delhi cricket body scam.

Sisodia also dared the Centre to a thorough CBI probe and said the AAP government was not afraid of the central probe agency as long as it functions independently.

Jaitley dismissed the allegations and said claims of a government which was creating hurdles in the fight against corruption cannot be trusted.

Supporting independence of CBI, Sisodia said documents related to tenure of Kejriwal were seized by the CBI during its raid on the Secretariat on Tuesday.

The CBI denied allegations that the raiding party touched documents in Kejriwal’s office. It also drilled holes in the AAP government’s claim that the trap to arrest another senior officer S P Singh earlier this week was laid independently and not on a complaint by the AAP government, as claimed by the Chief Minister earlier.

Sisodia told newspersons that a file related to a cabinet decision and file movement register related to November-December were seized by the CBI – a fact which exposed Jaitley’s claim that the raid did not relate to Kejriwal’s tenure but was aimed at his Principal Secretary and IAS officer Rajendra Kumar.

“Why did the CBI seize the file movement register of November-December and three files of transport department?" Sisodia asked, claiming misuse of CBI by the Centre.

“The CBI also scrutinised files of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). They even planned to seize them but did not do so after Chief Minister raised the issue," Sisodia said. He alleged the probe agency seized documents "unrelated" to the agency's probe against Kumar.