Kejriwal demands Delhi chief secretary's suspension over alleged 'hospital scam'
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has reportedly forwarded a report to Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Vinai Kumar Saxena concerning an alleged hospital tender scam linked to the city's Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar. According to ANI, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo has also demanded the immediate suspension and removal of the Delhi chief secretary.
Know about allegations against Chief Secretary Kumar
The development comes right after Delhi Vigilance Minister Atishi sent a supplementary report to Kejriwal on Thursday regarding the matter. The chief secretary is charged with allegedly misusing his powers to enable a lucrative collaboration for his son's tech company by bending tender-related regulations at Delhi's Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS). Kumar, who is set to retire on November 30, has labeled the allegations in the report as "ridiculous" and "rubbish."
ILBS hospital denies link to chief secretary's son
The ILBS hospital also refuted Atishi's claims, stating that Kumar's son, Karan Chauhan, was not associated with the hospital. "It has been alleged that this company belongs to Karan Chauhan, who is the son of the chief secretary. Karan Chauhan isn't a signatory to the MoU," it said on Friday. "Chauhan isn't connected with the company with which ILBS signed the MoU, as he is neither a shareholder nor a director, partner, employee or functionary in the company," it added.
Details on Atishi's report on Kumar
As per the report submitted by Atishi, the project revolved around collaboration between ILBS and Chauhan's firm MetaMix to perform research and study on the simulation of various endoscopy procedures using augmented reality. Kumar allegedly "played an instrumental role" in awarding the project even though MetaMix was formed merely seven months ago and lacked experience in developing AI-based software. It was alleged that the company profited hundreds of crores from it. Notably, Kumar is also the chairman of ILBS Hospital.
This is Kumar's character assassination: Delhi additional chief secretary
Earlier, Delhi Additional Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar reacted to the claims against Kumar by stating that his character was being assassinated. "It is necessary that facts that are on record be presented before you and the truth reaches people," the additional chief secretary had said. "The character assassination of the Chief Secretary is being done; false and baseless allegations are being leveled against him," he added.
