Corruption allegations against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal will be examined: CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will ‘verify and examine’ the corruption allegations levelled against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal by his sacked cabinet colleague Kapil Mishra. The decision was taken hours after Mishra reached the CBI headquarters and handed over the ‘evidence’ to back his allegations.

The statement issued by CBI later on Tuesday said the allegations need to examined before initiating the preliminary probe against Kejriwal. The agency conceded recording the complaint of Mishra against Kejriwal, Satyendra Jain and other top brass leaders of AAP.

“Three complaints were made by Kapil Mishra against Arvind Kejriwal and others in Delhi government on bribery and other irregularities. The complaints will be examined and verified,” CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said.

Mishra, the suspended AAP leader, made three major allegations against Kejriwal. His first complaint says Kejriwal took Rs 2 crore in cash from health minister Satyendra Jain. The second complaint says Satyendra Jain settled a Rs 50 crore land deal for Kejriwal’s brother-in-law. The third complaint is registered against AAP members Raghav Chadha, Satyendra Jain, Sanjay Singh, Ashish Khetan and Durgesh Pathak for allegedly using the exchequer’s amount for their foreign trips.

While addressing the media earlier in the day, Kapil Mishra said, “I have submitted the evidence before the CBI. It would be suffice to land Satyendra Jain behind the bars.” He further added that Kejriwal would be “forced to resign” once Jain is sent to jail for corruption.

Mishra has also demanded Sanjay Singh, Ashish Khetan, Raghav Chadha and Durgesh Pathak to reveal their foreign trip details and expenditures. “If they fail to do so by tomorrow, I would initiate a hunger strike,” the East Delhi MLA said.

Earlier, AAP’s Sanjay Singh had rejected the allegations levelled by Mishra, accusing him of acting on behest of BJP. “He is speaking in the language of BJP. This shows who is behind him. As far as the threat of CBI and ACB is concerned, we are not afraid as there is not an iota of corruption done by this government. Even our opponents acknowledge the fact that Kejriwal would never indulge in any sort of corruption,” he said.