CBI to soon file chargesheet against Arvind Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar

New Delhi: CBI on Friday informed a trial court that it will soon file its chargesheet in a corruption case against a Delhi government official.

The agency made the submissions while opposing a plea filed by Delhi government seeking release of documents “indiscriminately” seized during a CBI raid at the office of CM Arvind Kejriwal’s principal secretary Rajendra Kumar on December 15, 2015. CBI said the raid was not aimed at the government but against an alleged corrupt officer.

The court reserved its order for January 20 on a plea by the government. CBI had registered a corruption case against Kumar and others on allegations that he had abused his position by “favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders from Delhi government departments”.

Calling it a “political game”, AAP government’s lawyer Rahul Mehra submitted that the “irrelevant” things that have been seized from Kumar’s office include the visitor’s directory of the CM office and Delhi government’s cabinet note of June 15, 2015. “These things cannot have anything do with the probe. What is the agency doing with these things. It’s a political game,” Mehra argued.

The proceedings also saw some heated exchange of words between government’s counsel and CBI, for whom a bunch of public prosecutors appeared. CBI also sought the court to restrain the AAP government from doing “press conferences” about hearings in this case. Referring to a January 7 news report of a national newspaper, the agency alleged of misreporting and said it was due to a “press conference” by the AAP counsel.

It also said the accused was a senior officer who was possessing the documents seized by the agency, and in all likelihood, he could have tampered with them. The agency also refuted the government’s claim that it’s raid was “illegal”.