ED raids Kejriwal's PA, others for receiving kickbacks from DJB deal

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday searched premises of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's personal assistant Bibhav Kumar and others as part of its probe into charges that the AAP and some officials received kickbacks of about Rs 21 crore through alleged irregularities in a Delhi Jal Board contract, official sources said.

The action is part of a money laundering investigation focusing on alleged bribes that were garnered through irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) tendering process and purportedly channelled as election funds to the AAP, they said.

A dozen premises in the national capital were searched by the federal agency's officials from 7 am under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The residences of Bibhav Kumar, former DJB member Shalabh Kumar, the office of party Rajya Sabha member and national treasurer N D Gupta, and the premises of chartered accountant Pankaj Mangal and others associated with the ruling party in Delhi were covered in the search action.

In response to the raids, Delhi minister Atishi accused the authorities of attempting to "intimidate" the AAP.

These searches are related to the investigation concerning alleged irregularities in the tendering process of the DJB, for which the ED had arrested retired Jal Board chief engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora and contractor Anil Kumar Aggarwal on January 31.

Following the ED's assertion that further custodial interrogation was necessary to uncover a "larger conspiracy," a special PMLA court had extended their remand by five days on Monday.

The money laundering case originated from a CBI FIR that alleged corruption and bribery in the DJB of the Delhi government. The FIR alleged that Arora awarded contracts to NKG Infrastructure Ltd. for a total cost of Rs 38 crore, despite the company's "failure" to meet the technical eligibility criteria.

ED officials claimed that NKG Infrastructure Ltd. secured the bid by submitting forged documents.

The probe further indicated that the contract was inflated, allowing kickbacks to be collected from the contractors.

Arora is alleged to have been "aware" of the fact that the company does not meet the technical eligibility, the officials said, claiming that he received "bribe" amounts both in cash and bank accounts and passed these alleged kickbacks to Bibhav Kumar, Shalab Kumar, Pankaj Mangal and others.

The kickbacks, according to the officials, were also passed on as election funds to the AAP.

An analysis by the ED claimed that out of the contract value of Rs 38 crore, only about Rs 17 crore was spent on the tender work, with the remaining funds allegedly siphoned off under the guise of various false expenses, including "bribes and election funds".

The ED had earlier said in a statement that NKG Infrastructure had obtained the tender for supply, installation, testing and commissioning of electro-magnetic flow metres.

"NKG Infrastructure Ltd sub-contracted the work to Integral Screws Ltd, a proprietorship firm of Anil Kumar Aggarwal and on receipt of funds, Aggarwal transferred the bribe amount of about Rs 3 crore to Arora through cash and bank accounts." "Probe found that bank accounts of close associates of Arora and their relatives were used to transfer the bribe amounts. and bribes were received in cash too," the ED had said.

The raids came on a day Atishi claimed in a press conference that the ED had "deleted" audio recordings of statements of some accused in the excise policy probe involving AAP functionaries, a charge denied by the federal agency.

The ED officials said the agency was proposing to take legal action against the Delhi minister and that no footage was deleted. It said audio recording of interrogation began only in October 2023.