Water tanker scam: What is it about and how are Arvind Kejriwal, Sheila Dikshit involved

Water tanker scam: What is it about and how are Arvind Kejriwal, Sheila Dikshit involved

The Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on Monday filed a first information report (FIR) against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his predecessor Sheila Dikshit in connection with the water tanker scam.

The ACB also said that the two could be called for questioning.

ACB chief M K Meena told IANS that the FIR was registered on the complaint of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Vijender Gupta against Kejriwal "for causing delay and not cancelling the contract for water tankers".

What is the scam all about and how did it come to light

The alleged scam came to light when Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, in June 2015, constituted a fact-finding committee to probe the irregularities in hiring some 385 stainless steel water tankers by the Delhi Jal Board in 2012, during Dikshit's rule.

The five-member committee was formed by Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra.

Its report, submitted to Kejriwal in August 2015, highlights alleged corruption of Rs 400 crore in the process of awarding tenders for hiring water tankers.

It recommended an FIR against Congress leader Dikshit by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ACB.

Last week, on Monday, almost a year later, the report was sent to the prime minister and Delhi's lieutenant governor by the AAP government.

What did the Delhi government do after the panel submitted its report

On June 12, state Water Minister Mishra had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung recommending either a CBI or ACB probe against Dikshit in connection with alleged scam. Read more.

Ruckus in RS as Manohar Parrikar speaks on AgustaWestland deal

Despite opposition from the Congress, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikaron Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that he only wanted to give chronology of the events with regard to corruption in the Rs 3,600-crore sale of 12 VVIP choppers to India.

"This matter is not of today, this pertains to year 2002. I just wanted to inform the House, the chronological order of events, without any comments on them, so that the House is aware of when it took place and what happened," Parrikar said in the Upper House.

"Whether they want or don't want, it is for them (Congress)," he added amid uproar in the upper house.

Parrikar, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modiyesterday, had earlier on Monday said that his address in the Parliament would include how and when necessary clauses or provisions were relaxed to suit the company.

Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, has accused the Centre of pursuing a politically motivated campaign to defame the grand old party through the AgustaWestland copter scam.

Meanwhile, former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi is being grilled for the third consecutive day by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at its headquarter here in connection with alleged irregularities in the Rs. 3600 crore VVIP chopper deal.

As per reports, the former IAF chief is said to have told the CBI yesterday that he met senior officials of Finmeccanica, the parent company of AgustaWestland, while negotiations for the purchase of VVIP choppers were going on.

He also told the interrogators that he had met Finmeccanica's Chief Operating Officer Georgio Zapa in New Delhi on February 15, 2005.

The CBI yesterday quizzed the former IAF chief on the four firms which he and his wife set up after his retirement from service.Read More.

Does Dawood have gangrene, and will he escape being brought to justice?

Is India's most wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim suffering from gangrene?

CNN-News18 reported on Monday that the dreaded Mumbai mafia boss-turned-terrorist has advancedgangrene at a stage where it is life-threatening, and that he might have to undergo an amputation.

Additionally, the report cites doctors, who are treating Dawood, as saying that the gangrene is at such an advanced stage that Dawood is immobile and an amputation might be required.

It adds that 

business-standard.com

Dawood Ibrahim is being treated at his residence in the "upscale Clifton neighbourhood of Karachi". According to the report, the doctors attending to him are from the Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, and the Combined Military Hospital, Karachi.

The report is specific on Dawood’s medical condition, quoting the doctors treating the don as saying that high blood pressure and blood sugar are the causes behind the gangrene.

The Times of India, on the other hand, on Tuesday reported that senior intelligence officials and the gangster's deputy Chhota Shakeel have confirmed that Dawood is "fit".

The ToI report quotes Shakeel saying that the reports of a gangrene infection are results of rumours being floated to hinder Dawood's business.

If Dawood is indeed suffering from gangrene, and if the condition is indeed life-threatening, then it will have serious consequences for India's pursuit of justice for the Mumbai bomb blasts of 1993 that were exacted by Dawood and his gang in return for the communal riots in the city that followed the December 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

Bringing Dawood back to India to stand trial for his role in the blasts has been a longstanding objective of Indian politicians and intelligence agencies, but one that has been met with little success, thanks to stonewalling by the Pakistani establishment.

In fact, the Pakistani government has consistently denied Dawood’s presence in that country, despite the fact that India claims it even knows the exact address of his residence in Karachi.

However, there have been reports of Indian intelligence having had at least four opportunities to nab Dawood in Pakistan, none of which worked out.

1) Dawood allegedly wanted to surrender in 1994:

According to a Hindustan Times report, a little over a year after the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, Dawood was willing to surrender and "even spoke thrice to the then CBI DIG Neeraj Kumar".

According to the report, the agency, for unknown reasons, "didn’t take him (Dawood) up on his offer".

Speaking to HT, Kumar said: “I spoke to a jittery Dawood three times in June 1994… He seemed to be toying with the idea of surrendering but had one worry — his rival gangs could finish him off if he returned to India. I told him his safety would be the responsibility of the CBI.”

However, according to the report, Kumar's seniors abruptly ordered him to avoid any further contact with the gangster.Read More.

Arvind Kejriwal ko gussa kyon aata hai?

After day-long raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation at the Delhi Secretariat, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal looked directly into the television cameras, struck an aggressive pose, pointed his index finger and sent out a warning to the Prime Minister: “Modiji, others might get scared of your strong arm tactics – CBI raids etc. I’m not intimidated. You don’t know as yet what mettle I am made of. I will fight for the country till my last breath.”

Earlier in the day, he had taken to Twitter to label PM Modi a “coward and a psychopath”, later refusing to retract his invective. 

The histrionics on display did enough to project a CBI raid as a direct confrontation between Modi and Kejriwal. The Chief Minister had successfully upped the stakes and grabbed the national headlines.

He then went a step further and levelled a direct accusation against one of the most important ministers in the Modi Cabinet: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, a charge that was bound to make the government squirm.

Kejriwal alleged the CBI raids were aimed at getting hold of an inquiry committee file relating to the functioning of the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA), of which Jaitley is a past president. “Yeh file hai DDCA ka file jiske andar Arun Jaitley phas rahe hain (This file pertains to the DDCA probe in which Arun Jaitley is getting trapped),” Kejriwal said.

Arvind Kejriwal tweets 'office raided by CBI', calls Modi a 'coward' and 'psychopath'

A massive political row erupted between the Delhi government and the Centre after CBI raided CM Arvind Kejriwal’s office at Delhi Secretariat this morning with Kejriwal lashing out at the Prime Minister labeling him a “coward and a pychopath.”

While the CBI maintained that the raid was in connection with a corruption case against his Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar, the AAP government questioned why the Chief Minister’s office on the third floor was sealed and office files searched.
ALSO READ: Why Rajender Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal principal secretary is under the CBI lens
Refusing to accept the government explanation, AAP has mobilized its workers to get ready to hit the streets in protest against the BJP’s attck on a democratically elected government.      
ALSO READ: CBI raid not against Kejriwal: Arun Jaitley                                      Charging the Centre with “political vendetta”, the issue echoed in the Parliament as well with Opposition Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien raising it in the Rajya Sabha. Leader of House Arun Jaitley clarified that the CM has not been raided and it was in connection with a corruption case against an officer in the Chief minister’s staff. He added, that the CBI had raided 14 other places as well.  

A livid Kejriwal took to Twitter to lash out against PM Modi and the Central government.

While whole morning AAP fielded its spokespersons to lash out against the BJP led Centre claiming that it could not come to terms with their humiliating defeat in Delhi and was hence targetting the AAP through the CBI, BJP too hit back with Prakash Javadekar alleging that the CM was “supporting corruption” and described his comments on the PM as “atrocious.” 
This fresh round of confrontation between the Delhi Government and the Centre has also provided fresh ammunition to the Congress led Opposition which had been gunning against the government on charges of “political vendetta." 

This is the second instance of a CBI raid on a chief ministers office in the NDA regime. Recently Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadhra Singh’s office and residence were raided.