New Delhi: The CBI seized files containing "cabinet decisions" during its day-long raid, the Delhi government alleged on Wednesday with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claiming that a file relating to DDCA was scrutinised, drawing a rebuttal by the agency and the Centre.
Heightening the unprecedented acrimony, Kejriwal and his Deputy Manish Sisodia charged the Central Bureau of Investigation with fresh allegations accusing it of seizing documents "unrelated" to the agency's probe against Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar.
The Chief Minister also launched a fresh attack on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying he had "misled" Parliament by saying that the CBI did not raid the Chief Minister's office.
"CBI kept reading DDCA file in my office. They wud hv seized it. But after my media briefing, they left it. Not clear if they took a copy. Docs seized from my office. No relation to allegations being probed. Item 7-file movement register of last one month," he said in a series of tweets.
Docs seized from my office.No relation to allegations being probed. Item 7 -file movement register of last one month pic.twitter.com/r2JGLzti1O
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 16, 2015CBI kept reading DDCA file in my office. They wud hv seized it. But after my media briefing, they left it. Not clear if they took a copy
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 16, 2015Addressing a press conference, Sisodia wondered why the CBI had allegedly seized "file movement register of November-December" and "three files of transport department".
"What is the connection? CBI also scrutinized files of DDCA. They even planned to seize them but did not do so after Chief Minister raised the issue," Sisodia said.
In his tweets, Kejriwal also suggested that Jaitley was worried about Delhi government's probe into the functioning of DDCA. Jaitley had yesterday dismissed the allegations against him as "rubbish".
Kejriwal also uploaded image of a document listing the files allegedly taken away by CBI from Delhi Secretariat during its day-long raid yesterday.
Why is Jaitley ji so scared of DDCA probe? What is his role in DDCA scam?
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 16, 2015The office of Kejriwal's Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar was raided by CBI yesterday in a corruption case triggering a fresh face-off between the AAP and Centre and a vicious political slugfest in which the AAP chief lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kejriwal claimed his office was raided which was denied by CBI as well as the Finance Minister in Rajya Sabha where the opposition created an uproar.
The chief minister claimed he was in fact the target and that Kumar was just an excuse.
Sisodia, who has alleged that CBI raided a room where the Chief Minister's files and affidavits were kept, stood by his claim and said that the Parliament was being "misled" by stating "wrong facts".
"If the raid was in Chief Minister's office it was in his office. One cannot say that clerk's office was raided and not Chief Minister's," Sisodia, Kejriwal's most trusted lieutenant, said.
The ruling AAP is "not scared" of any enquiry but wants the "independence" of CBI, not one which is a "slave" of the Centre and acts on its instructions, Sisodia said.
"Whatever party is ruling in the centre if it uses CBI against the opponent, how can it be independent?" he asked.
"If you see the seizure memo, the kind of files that were seized including the cabinet decisions and file movement registers, I do not understand the connection they have with the alleged scams for which the raids were conducted," he added.
CBI today justified its action saying the list of all the files seized will be placed before the court even as it continued questioning Kejriwal's Principal Secretary in a corruption case.
