Friday, Mar 29, 2024 | Last Update : 05:58 AM IST

  ACB planning to arrest me: Kapil Mishra

ACB planning to arrest me: Kapil Mishra

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Jun 29, 2016, 1:54 am IST
Updated : Jun 29, 2016, 1:54 am IST

Questioning the city anti-corruption branch’s conspicuous delay in probing former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, Delhi water minister Kapil Mishra said on Tuesday that he feared he could be arrested b

Questioning the city anti-corruption branch’s conspicuous delay in probing former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, Delhi water minister Kapil Mishra said on Tuesday that he feared he could be arrested by the anti-graft body, which has summoned him on July 4 for questioning regarding Rs 400-crore DJB water tanker scam.

“I have come to know from reliable sources that the ACB is planning to arrest me at the earliest. They want to arrest me as early as possible,” Mr Mishra told the reporters and added the ACB, which is under the Central government, has summoned him for questioning regarding the scam which took place during the previous Congress regime in Delhi.

Congress leader Sheila Dikshit headed the Delhi government for 15 years till December 2013. “Why is the BJP after us and not Sheila Dikshit ” Mr Mishra asked, adding he was not afraid of going to prison. “My fight against corruption will continue even if I am sent to jail,” he said.

Mr Mishra said he had submitted the entire fact-finding report of the DJB water tanker scam with all proof against Ms Dikshit to lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung, but no action has been taken against her.

“The anti-corruption branch is not calling Sheila Dikshit for questioning in the `400-crore water tanker scam, instead they registered an FIR against (chief minister Arvind) Kejriwal and summoned me for questioning,” he said, adding, “This shows they want to use this report politically.”

He went on to allege that the anti-corruption branch, which is headed by Jung-appointed officer M.K. Meena, was targeting only the AAP ministers and officers. “We had filed three FIRs against Sheila Dikshit in different matters, but the ACB did not take any action against her. The vigilance department has sent 38 cases to the ACB to file an FIR, but it did not file any case. They are only targeting the AAP government,” Mr Mishra said.

The AAP government in June 2015 had constituted a five-member fact-finding committee to probe the irregularities in hiring some 385 stainless steel water tankers by the Delhi Jal Board in 2012 during Ms Dikshit’s rule.

The report submitted to Mr Kejriwal in August last year highlights alleged corruption of `400 crore in the process of awarding tenders for hiring water tankers, and recommended an FIR be filed against Ms Dikshit and a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the anti-corruption branch.

The ACB had registered an FIR against Mr Kejriwal and his predecessor Ms Dikshit on June 20 in connection with the DJB water tanker scam. The FIR against Mr Kejriwal was registered on the complaint of BJP legislator Vijender Gupta “for causing delay in the probe and not cancelling the contract for water tankers.”

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi