NEW DELHI: Amid reports that former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit may be named as in-charge of Punjab Congress or even as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh polls, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Thursday forwarded the report of a fact-finding panel on the alleged Rs 400-crore water tanker scam, to which she is allegedly linked, to the Delhi Police’s Anti-Corruption Branch for investigation.
The report by a committee of the Delhi Jal Board was sent to Jung by the AAP government for probe by either the CBI or the ACB following persistent demand by the city BJP leader Vijender Gupta. Jung has also forwarded to the ACB a complaint by Gupta accusing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of “suppressing” the committee’s report on the scam for 11 months. Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra said the former Delhi chief minister should be behind bars for alleged corruption and alleged she was not facing action as the BJP was not keen to punish the guilty.
Last week, the AAP government had made the report public after Gupta reiterated his demanded in the Delhi Assembly. The ACB, meanwhile, is gearing up to grill AAP leader Gopal Rai, who resigned as Transport Minister a couple of days ago amid allegations of corruption in the Premium Bus Scheme. ACB chief Mukesh Kumar Meena said Thursday that the former minister might be questioned again in the case.
“There are charges of corruption and it is a fact that the LG’s permission was not taken, but notification claims that permission was taken,” said Meena. The officer said the investigating team will call all those who signed off on the policy. He stressed, “AAP government transport policy allegedly was tailor-made to benefit one operator, all stakeholders not consulted.”
The premium bus investigation refers to the probe into allegations of favouritism underlying the notification of a policy to enable app-based premium buses in the capital as a ploy to extend benefits to a Gurugram -based private operator.
The probe has been launched on the complaint of Gupta, who alleged that the government is “trying to benefit” a Gurugram-based private bus aggregator. There are allegations that no prior approval of the LG was sought before launch of the scheme and that it was aimed at benefiting a private company.
Rai had claimed that he had asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to take away the transport portfolio from him as his health condition was not good enough. But he was sacked from the post by the chief minister as his name cropped up in the premium bus scam. The fact was revealed by another AAP leader Alka Lamba but she had to pay the price as she was suspended from the post of the party spokesperson.