Arvind Kejriwal's Nephew Arrested in PWD Scam; AAP Cries Vendetta

New Delhi: The anti-corruption branch arrested a relative of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday in connection with the PWD scam.

The relative has been identified as Vinay Bansal, son of Kejriwal's brother-in-law Surender Bansal.

According to officers, three FIRs were filed last year after Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO) founder Rahul Sharma lodged a complaint in January against Delhi chief minister, his brother-in-law, and other persons for alleged irregularities while granting contracts for roads and sewers in Delhi.

The complainant alleged that one Renu Construction Company was granted contract 'irregularly' to build a drainage system in north-west Delhi’s Bakoli village in April 2015, following which the ACB filed three separate FIRs against various persons in May for forgery, cheating and graft.

The corruption bureau, which has been investigating the matter since then, found during probe that the aforesaid company gave the tender at 46% low cost to one Mahadev Impact, which does not exist on papers. It was also found that the work for the obtained contract was never completed. Even the bid and its technical marks were manipulated.

Since Kejriwal’s nephew, Vinay, is 50% partner in Renu Construction Company, he was arrested on Thursday morning. Surendra, who was also an accused in the case, died last year after prolonged illness.

According to sources in the ACB, Vinay was unable to give satisfactory answers during questioning.

Following the arrest of CM’s nephew, the Aam Aadmi party in a statement termed the move as “motivated" and “an act of political vendetta".

“After having failed to find anything against Arvind Kejriwal, his MLAs and his ministers, Modi govt stoops low to target Kejriwal's relatives. Modi government has got Arvind Kejriwal investigated by all agencies. They got Kejriwal raided by CBI and Delhi police but did not get any evidence of any wrongdoing. Now, Modi govt has turned its attention to Kejriwal's relatives. Even there, they seem to be unsuccessful in finding anything wrong," AAP said.