NEW DELHI, Dec. 16 (UPI) — India’s Central Bureau of Investigation rejected claims it raided the office of Delhi State Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who reacted by calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a coward and a psychopath.
The CBI said the claims were made to derail a probe against Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar, who is accused of corruption. CBI spokesman Devpreet Singh said searches were conducted with warrants, and that Kejriwal’s office was not searched.
Kumar is suspected of criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct over allegations he helped award government contracts to a favored company while he worked with the Delhi government. The CBI opened a criminal investigation Monday.
“CBI emphatically denies having searched the office of chief minister of Delhi. CBI has registered a case against a senior officer and six others during 2007-14 as he along with others abused his position in awarding contracts to private firms,” Singh told reporters Tuesday. “After obtaining warrant from the competent court, searches are in progress in 14 locations in Delhi and [Uttar Pradesh].”
The Aam Aadmi Party, to which Kejriwal belongs, resoundingly came into power in February by winning a majority of seats in the Delhi state assembly on an anti-corruption platform. The Aam Aadmi Party victory was seen as a significant loss to Modi’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Since February, Kejriwal has worked to gain more control of power in the capital, including oversight of police which is a power held by the central government. Kejriwal on Twitter said raids were conducted on his office in the third floor of the Delhi Secretariat. The CBI has been accused of bending to political interests in the past.
“When Modi cudn’t handle me politically, he resorts to this cowardice,” Kejriwal wrote. “Modi is a coward and a psycopath.”
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.