Arvind Kejriwal alleges CBI not following procedure for summoning officials

New Delhi, Mar 9: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday claimed that CBI did not follow proper procedure for summoning his officials, a charge firmly refuted by the agency.

CBI sources said the questioning of personal staff of the chief minister's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar by the agency was approved by Kejriwal himself as mentioned in a written correspondence from the Delhi Secretariat on Monday.

Rubbishing his claim that the officials were called for questioning over phone, CBI sources said all necessary formalities were done through correspondence.

The response came after chief minister took to Twitter to claim that his staff had been summoned "on phone without notice". He also claimed 150 officers have been summoned so far in this manner.

Citing the link of a newspaper report, Kejriwal tweeted, "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 CBI should follow proper procedure.

In series of his tweets, 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)."

CBI sources said the response from authorities in the Secretariat said the questioning has approval from the chief minister. It also asked CBI not to seek their presence together as it will hamper the work, which was agreed to by the agency.

They said said only the staff of Kumar has been called in connection with ongoing investigation into graft allegations against Kumar.

PTI