Chief Minister Arvind Kejiwal with his Deputy Manish Sisodia while presenting Delhi Budget 2015-16 in New Delhi. (Press Trust of India)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sent a "secret note" to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh about allegations of corruption against MK Meena, a senior police officer and head of the capital's Anti-Corruption Branch or ACB, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told the Delhi Assembly on Friday.
Mr Sisodia was speaking on the functioning of the ACB, the elite investigation agency that has been at the centre of a bitter turf battle between the Aam Aadmi Party government and Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
"Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sent a secret note to Union Home Minister and mentioned serious allegations - hawala and sofa-parda scam against him (Meena). I hope he (Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh) will take cognisance of this matter and will take strict action accordingly," Mr Sisodia said.
The Delhi government had opposed Mr Meena's appointment to the ACB by Mr Jung earlier this month. Mr Meena, a joint commissioner of police, outranked SS Yadav, the officer picked by chief minister Kejriwal, and so automatically became the head of the unit.
An angry Kejriwal government had attempted to stall the appointment, alleging that it was illegal as there was no position in the ACB for Mr Meena to fill. The Vigilance Department of the Delhi government, which oversees functioning of the ACB, had issued a letter asking him to revert to his Delhi Police assignment.
But Mr Meena had refused to do that. He wrote back in a letter that he had already taken over as ACB chief and threatened legal action if he was stopped from attending work.
On Thursday, Mr Yadav accused Mr Meena of threatening and pressuring him. Sources said Mr Yadav has submitted three complaints to the Vigilance Department against Mr Meena alleging high-handedness.
"ACB comes under the Delhi government's Vigilance Department and the director of this department is the head of the ACB. This has been the arrangement since the ACB's inception. ACB was formed under the Prevention of Corruption Act according and its mandate is to catch anybody involved in corruption," Mr Sisodia said in the Assembly on Friday.