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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Chinese astronauts return to earth safely after six-month stint in space station
Beijing, Nov 4: Three Chinese astronauts who spent six months developing China’s low orbit space station returned to Earth safely early Monday, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.
The capsule of the spaceship Shenzhou-18' carrying astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 1:24 am (Beijing Time).
The three astronauts, after staying in orbit for 192 days, were all in good health and the Shenzhou-18 manned mission was a success, the CMSA said.
Ye, the Shenzhou-18 mission commander, has become the first Chinese astronaut with an accumulative spaceflight time of more than a year, setting a new record for the longest duration of stay in orbit by a Chinese astronaut.
He served as a crew member in the Shenzhou-13 mission from October 2021 to April 2022.
"Chinese astronauts have flown to space in successive missions. I believe that the record of the duration in orbit will be broken in the near future," Ye said.
Another astronaut Li Guangsu said that they grew two types of plants -- cherry tomatoes and lettuce -- and they had harvested some lettuce leaves for food.
"Being able to eat fresh vegetables in space is truly a blessing. These green plants have also brought a touch of green and good cheer to our busy work," Li was quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency.
China launched the Shenzhou-18 manned spaceship in April this year.
During the mission, the Shenzhou-18 crew utilised the scientific experiment cabinets and extravehicular payloads to carry out dozens of experiments in the fields of basic physics in microgravity, space material science, space life science, space medicine and space technology, Xinhua report said.
The three were relieved by another set of three Chinese astronauts, including a woman who docked with the orbiting space station on October 30.
China changes crew for the station every six months.
China built its space station after it was reportedly excluded from the International Space Station (ISS) over concerns that China's space programme is manned by its military, the People's Liberation Army, (PLA).
The two robotic arms of the station, especially the long one which has the ability to grab objects including satellites from space, drew international concerns.
Early this month China announced its plans for the further development of space programmes which included launching a manned lunar mission, construction of a lunar space station, exploration of habitable planets and extra-terrestrial life to expand its space programme in the next few decades.
