Delhi Vigilance Minister Atishi on Tuesday submitted a report to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal regarding a complaint against Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar alleging corruption in the land acquisition matter on Dwarka Expressway, the sources said.
The complaint against Kumar alleged his involvement in increasing compensation for a land parcel in Bamnoli village to provide illicit profits to an organization linked to his son, Karan Chauhan, sources said.
It is said that the Chief Secretary’s son was employed by a relative of the man who was awarded enhanced compensation for the piece of the land belonging to him, which was acquired for a road project by the NHAI.
As per sources, the preliminary report consists of around 650 pages, and is said to have incriminating facts stating that the “connections and the chronology give the prima facie appearance of complicity” of Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar with the DM Southwest and landowners in the land acquisition on the Dwarka Expressway.
Atishi in her report to the CM also recommended the immediate removal of Chief Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar so that they do not influence the investigation, sources further said.
“She asked this report be sent to the CBI to provide the agency with a complete view of the facts discovered herein and expanding the scope of the existing CBI inquiry to investigate the complicity of Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar and Divisional Commissioner Ashwani Kumar with Hemant Kumar and the landowners,” sources added.
This follows a day after Delhi’s Additional Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar said the allegations of links between Delhi Chief Secretary and the owners of a piece of land acquired for Dwarka Expressway were “false and baseless.”
He said the Chief Secretary’s character is being assassinated with the false allegations, and added that the top official rather took actions to undo what wrong had happened in this regard when the matter
regarding the increased compensation came into light.
Such land compensation matters are the works done at ADM and DM level officials, and involvement of Chief Secretary is not even a part of such matters, Ashwani Kumar had said, while addressing a press conference on Monday.
Kumar had further said the allegations levelled against Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar are baseless and part of “dirty politics.”