A Delhi court on Thursday remanded Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s relative Vinay Bansal remanded in one-day judicial custody in connection with an alleged scam in the Public Works Department (PWD).
In a court room packed with lawyers and mediapersons, Bansal fainted during the hearing and a stretcher was brought to take him to the ambulance stationed outside the court premises. The proceedings were halted for a few minutes.
Bansal, who was produced before the court at 4.25 pm, was taken to the Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital nearby in the CAT ambulance.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which had arrested Bansal in this case, had sought three-day police remand of Bansal.
However, Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Neeti Suri Mishra rejected the ACB’s demand, saying he was not medically fit.
The Metropolitan Magistrate pointed out that Bansal had fainted in the court during the arguments and according to his medical report his blood pressure is on the higher side.
“Since the medical condition of the accused is not good, I do not consider it appropriate to send him to police custody today. The application of the investigating officer (IO) is accordingly dismissed,” the magistrate said.
The court directed the IO to inform the Tihar Jail superintendent to ask the staff concerned to be present at the hospital for taking his custody from the IO.
Seeking three-day remand, public prosecutor Balbir Singh argued that Bansal’s custodial interrogation was necessary for digging out the true factual position in the case.
Opposing the remand, Bansal’s counsel B S Joon said the FIR was lodged in 2017 and since then no evidence has been found against the accused.
He said the FIR has wrongly levelled allegations under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act which are meant for public servants and Bansal was not one.
The court, after hearing the arguments, sent him to one-day judicial custody, directing that he be produced before it tomorrow.
Reacting to Bansal’s arrest, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged that the role of the ACB and Delhi Police is limited to harass Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and their relatives.
The BJP, on the other hand, alleged that Kejriwal tried his best to supress the case but the ACB exposed him.
Bansal, who is the son of Kejriwal’s late brother-in-law Surender Bansal, was arrested on Thursday morning by the ACB.
Three FIRs, including one against a company run by the chief minister’s brother-in-law Surender Bansal, were registered by the ACB in this case on May 9 last year.
Three companies, including Renu Constructions (owned by Bansal, Kamal Singh and Pawan Kumar), were named in the FIRs.
In a complaint, Rahul Sharma, the founder of Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO), had alleged that Kejriwal and PWD minister Satyendra Jain misused their office for grant of contracts to Bansal. However, they were not named in the FIR.
The RACO, an organisation which claims to monitor construction projects in the national capital, had alleged that a firm linked to Bansal was involved in financial irregularities in building a drainage system in north-west Delhi.
It was also alleged that the bills sent to the Public Works Department (PWD) for unfinished works were “false and fabricated”.
Watch video: Anti-Corruption Bureau nabbed Kejriwal’s nephew in PWD fake bills case
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