Mishra had accused Kejriwal of accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore from Satyendar Jain, his Cabinet colleague; the CCTV footage of the day, examined by the CBI, had no evidence to substantiate the charge
In a big breather, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal has got a clean chit from both the CBI and Lokayukta. It pertains to the allegation of corruption levelled against him by his former Cabinet colleague-turned-rebel Kapil Mishra last year.
Mishra had made a specific charge, accusing Kejriwal of accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore from Satyendar Jain, his Cabinet colleague. Mishra had, in fact, mentioned that he was an eyewitness to the incident, which allegedly took place on May 5 at the Chief Minister’s residence.
“After seeing the cash, there is no way I care about my political position or even my life,” Mishra was quoted to have said at that time.
Mishra later submitted a formal complaint to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which did not find any merit in the allegation on conclusion of its investigation.
Following the clean chit from CBI, the Delhi Lokayukta has closed the case, too.
A day after Mishra was removed from the Cabinet, he had made the specific allegations of corruption against Kejriwal and Delhi Health Minister Jain. As a disciplinary action, Mishra was suspended from the party.
Kejriwal had made a foray into politics riding on the anti-graft plank his participation in the ‘movement’ led by Anna Hazare under the banner of India against Corruption had gifted him. It was an agitation against multiple scams during the second UPA government where the demonstrators demanded a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in all States.
When allegations of corruption were made against the AAP chief, his and his party AAP’s clean image took a hit. But after the exoneration from the CBI and Delhi Lokayukta, a euphoric Saurabh Bharadwaj, chief spokesperson of AAP, said, “Mishra’s lies were exposed when the AAP asked him about the exact time of the day when he had visited the chief minister’s residence and he refused to answer, saying that he would answer only to the CBI.”
During the investigation, when the CCTV footage of the day was scanned, Mishra is said to have been found nowhere.
Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.