Kejriwal's nephew arrested in PWD scam
AAP rejects charges
New Delhi, May 10 : The Anti-Corruption Branch on Thursday arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's nephew Vinay Bansal in an alleged PWD scam, sparking an angry reaction from the AAP which said it was part of the BJP's vendetta politics.
Vinay Bansal, the son of Kejriwal's late brother-in-law Surender Bansal, was a partner in a firm which was involved in the alleged scam worth over Rs 6 crore.
"We have arrested Vinay Bansal from his residence in Pitampura after he failed to give satisfactory replies to our queries about a firm - 'Mahadeo Impacts'," Special Commissioner of Police Arvind Deep told IANS.
The firm showed purchase of raw materials for the construction of a Public Works Department (PWD) drain.
"The ACB registered an FIR on May 8, 2017. We received a complaint that Surender Bansal got a tender below 46 per cent on behalf of a company, Renu Construction, on the estimated cost of Rs 4.9 lakh," Deep, who heads the ACB, said.
"The complaint also mentioned that the quality of products was not up to the mark. During the probe, it was found that iron and cement were bought from Mahadeo Impacts which was later found to be non-existent," he said.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia told the media here that for the last three years, the Delhi Police and the ACB are being used by the Lt Governor and the Central government for arresting AAP leaders.
The Delhi Police is "planning just one thing: How to make AAP people unhappy", he said.
Bansal was doing projects with the Delhi government even before the Kejriwal government. The current case is on a contract he won before the AAP government came to power, he added.
"This is part of the chain of arrests against AAP MLAs," Sisodia said, adding this will be exposed in the court.
"The good thing is that there's justice in this country and when cases go to court it goes against police and police is being asked why did you do it?"
Sisodia said IIT Roorkee had done a third party audit as per the terms of the project and submitted a report and the PWD had also said that the work was done well.
"After the complaint, the ACB got a separate inquiry conducted by Sri Ram Labs which also said that work was satisfactory," Sisodia said.
AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj rejected any corruption in the matter.
"There can be only two ways of corruption in PWD drain construction: the tender was rigged to favour of Chief Minister's relative or the payment was made for sub-standard work or incomplete work. In this case, nothing of this sort happened," he tweeted.
In May 2017, AAP rebel leader Kapil Mishra raised the issue following a whistleblower's revelations.
Surender Bansal, who ran a company that worked with the PWD for many years, died the same day Mishra raised the issue and filed the complaint.
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Fresh snowfall in higher reaches of Kashmir
Srinagar (PTI): Few areas in the higher reaches of Kashmir, including the Gulmarg tourist resort, received fresh snowfall, while the plains were lashed by rains on Sunday, officials said.
The upper reaches of Gulmarg, including Apharwat and Kongdoori bowls, received snowfall, which continued till last reports came in.Pir Ki Gali, along the Mughal Road in Shopian district of south Kashmir, and Sonamarg Zojilla axis also received fresh snowfall.
The snowfall on the Zojilla Pass forced the closure of the Srinagar-Leh national highway, the officials added.
The plains of the valley, including Srinagar, were lashed by rains which were going on till last reports, the officials said.
The wet weather has brought down the day temperature across the valley.
The Meteorological Department has forecast erratic weather till March 20.
It said intermittent light to moderate rain, or snow in the higher reaches was likely till Monday morning.
There is a possibility of a brief spell of light rain or snow, in the higher reaches, at isolated places on Tuesday.
From March 18-20, the weather will remain generally cloudy with a possibility of intermittent light to moderate rain or snow at many places.
The MeT Office said another wet spells is likely on March 24-25, with light rain, or snow in the higher reaches, at scattered places.
It said there is a possibility of thunder or gusty winds, about 40-50 kmph, at a few places on Sunday and Monday.
