In a series of tweets, Arvind Kejriwal said, "Which sec of CrPC empowers CBI to summon on ph? Till now, more than 150 officers summoned on ph(sic)".
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday accused the CBI of "not" following procedure while summoning officials in bribery case investigation allegedly involving his Principal Secretary, a claimed strongly rebutted by the agency which said all "due process" were followed.
The controversy started with a tweet from Mr Kejriwal who attached a news report in his tweet with a comment, "CBI summons Delhi CM staff 'informally' on phone without notice. Staff of other ministers' called earlier like this."
He said the government has nothing to hide, but the CBI should follow proper procedure.
In a series of tweets, Mr Kejriwal said, "Which sec of CrPC empowers CBI to summon on ph? Till now, more than 150 officers summoned on ph(sic)".
"We hv nothing to hide. I hv told all officers to cooperate. But CBI shud follow law- summon thro proper notices(sic)."
Refuting allegations, the CBI claimed that Mr Kejriwal was in loop with the calling of witnesses and had given approval for their appearance.
The CBI sources quoted a letter received on Monday from The chief minister's office signed by Bhupender Kumar, Joint Secretary (Administration) saying, "Please refer to your telephonic conversations with J S Rawat regarding appearance of following persons at CBI Headquarters on March 8, 2016 at 10.30 am."
"...The matter was discussed with Chief Minister wherein he has desired that in view of day to day work it would not be possible to send all the three officials of this office to CBI Headquarters at a time.
"This has the approval of Chief Minister, Delhi," it said.
The sources said the CBI responded immediately informing him that while Mr Rawat will appear at 11 am on Tuesday the remaining two--Sasi AE, PA to Rajendra Kumar and Yogesh LDC can appear for questioning on March 9 at different times.
Mr Rawat, PA of Kumar, appeared for questioning, they said. They said if the Chief Minister had any objection, he could have expressed in the correspondence yesterday exchanged through fax.
They said the agency had called the officials working with Rajendra Kumar, Principal Secretary, who is facing bribery allegations, telephonically as it gives the witnesses a flexibility in terms of date and time of appearing before the investigating officer and is well covered under "due process".