New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday issued production warrant for chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s relative Vinay Bansal, arrested in connection with an alleged scam in the public works department (PWD), after the Tihar jail authorities failed to produce him.
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Khanagwal took a stern view and directed the jail authorities to explain the absence of Mr Bansal, a nephew of Mr Kejriwal, who was sent to one-day judicial remand on Thursday after he fainted in the court room and was rushed to a hospital.
“The accused has not been produced by jail superintendent, Tihar Jail. There has been no intimation from the superintendent regarding his non-production. Production warrant be issued against the accused with a direction to the jail superintendent to explain non-production of the accused. The accused to be brought tomorrow,” the judge said.
Mr Bansal, through his counsel B.S. Joon, also moved a bail application on the ground that all allegations were baseless and the FIR filed against him was false and frivolous. He said Mr Bansal was currently recuperating in LNJP Hospital.
The application, which will be heard on May 14, also said he has been cooperating with the investigating agency since the FIR was lodged in May last year and never evaded the process of law. A duty magistrate had on Thursday remanded Mr Bansal to a day’s judicial custody, while refusing Anti-Corruption Branch’s plea seeking his three-day remand.
In the packed court room, Mr Bansal had fainted during the hearing and a stretcher was brought to take him to the CAT ambulance stationed outside the court premises. The proceedings were halted for a few minutes. The agency had argued that custodial interrogation was necessary for digging out the true factual position in the case.
Mr Bansal, the son of Mr Kejriwal’s late brother-in-law Surender Bansal, was arrested on Thursday by the ACB. Three FIRs, including one against a company run by the chief minister’s brother-in-law, were registered by the ACB in this case on May 9 last year. Three companies were also named in the FIRs.
