ACB trying to arrest me, says Delhi minister

New Delhi, June 28 (IANS) Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra said on Tuesday that he feared he could be arrested by the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) which has summoned him on July 4 regarding a "water tanker scam" that he has exposed.

"I have come to know from reliable sources that the ACB is planning to arrest me at the earliest," Mishra told journalists. "They want to arrest me as early as possible."

He said the ACB, which is under the Central government, had summoned him for questioning regarding the scam which took place during the previous Congress regime in Delhi.

Congress leader Sheila Dikshit headed the Delhi government for 15 years till December 2013.

"Why is the BJP after us and not Sheila Dikshit?" Mishra asked, adding he was not afraid of going to prison.

"My fight against corruption will continue even if I am sent to jail," he said.

Mishra said he had submitted the entire fact-finding report of the water tanker scam with all proofs against Dikshit to the Delhi Lt. Governor, but no action against her was being taken.

"ACB is not calling Sheila Dikshit for questioning in the Rs 400 crore water tanker scam, instead they registered an FIR against (Chief Minister Arvind) Kejriwal and summoned me for questioning," he said, adding, "This shows they want to use this report politically."

He alleged the ACB was targeting the ministers and officers of only the Aam Aadmi Party city government.

"We had filed three FIRs against Sheila Dikshit in different matters but the ACB did not take any action against her. The vigilance department has sent 38 cases to ACB to file an FIR but it did not file any case. They are only targeting the AAP government," Mishra said.

The AAP government in June 2015 constituted a five-member fact-finding committee to probe the irregularities in hiring some 385 stainless steel water tankers by the Delhi Jal Board in 2012 during Dikshit's rule.

Its report submitted to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in August 2015 highlights alleged corruption of Rs 400 crore in the process of awarding tenders for hiring water tankers, and recommended FIR against Dikshit and a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ACB.

The ACB had registered an FIR against Kejriwal and his predecessor Dikshit on June 20 in connection with the water tanker scam.

The FIR against Kejriwal was registered on the complaint of Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Vijender Gupta "for causing delay in the probe and not cancelling the contract for water tankers".