DJB scam case reflects brazen manner in which Delhi was looted under Kejriwal: BJP MP
New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal on Wednesday said that former Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain’s arrest has yet again exposed the Aam Aadmi Party’s “fake honesty”, adding that the Delhi Jal Board scam case presents an example of how the National Capital was looted in a “brazen manner” under AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal.
Satyendar Kumar Jain and former Delhi Jal Board (DJB) CEO Udit Prakash Rai, an IAS officer, were among six people arrested by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) on Tuesday in connection with an alleged corruption and tender-manipulation case involving the augmentation and upgradation of sewage treatment plants (STPs) in the national capital.
Speaking to IANS, Khandelwal said, “Satyendar Jain’s arrest has once again exposed Arvind Kejriwal’s fake honesty to the world. Overall, Arvind Kejriwal developed a model of corruption under the protection of power, which involved politicians, officials, contractors, and others.”
“Arvind Kejriwal rose to power in Delhi on the promise of an honest narrative, yet over the last ten years, he has presided over one scam after another. Take the Jal Board scam, for instance; despite the potential to clean the Yamuna by installing Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), the people of Delhi were deprived of the river’s water,” he said.
“Arvind Kejriwal must answer why he did this and denied Delhi its due rights. Whenever an AAP leader is arrested, Kejriwal claims it is an act of vendetta. The Jal Board scam is a reflection of the brazen manner in which Delhi has been looted,” the BJP MP added.
The arrests were made in connection with an FIR registered on May 11, 2024, at the ACB police station on a complaint from the GNCTD’s Directorate of Vigilance.
The other four accused arrested in the case are Ankit Srivastava, a former contractual consultant with the DJB; Nagendra Yadav, proprietor of M/s AN Enterprises; Raja Kumar Kurra, owner of M/s Euroteck Environment Private Limited; and Pankaj Verma, proprietor of M/s Srijanhar.
The FIR invokes Sections 7, 7A, 9 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, as amended in 2018, along with Sections 420, 409, 418 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.
According to the ACB, the case concerns alleged large-scale irregularities, manipulation of tender conditions and criminal conspiracy in the tendering process for DJB’s STP projects.
The arrests mark a significant development in the probe into alleged corruption and irregularities surrounding the DJB’s STP upgradation projects.
The ACB has said that further investigation is in progress.
–IANS
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