Ex-minister booked in CCTV 'graft' case

The Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on Wednesday booked Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former PWD minister Satyendar Jain for allegedly waiving a ₹16 crore penalty imposed on Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) in exchange for an alleged bribe of ₹7 crore.

- HT Correspondent

The penalty on BEL was for delays in installing 140,000 CCTV cameras in Delhi in 2018-19.

A first information report (FIR) was registered on Monday under corruption and criminal conspiracy charges in the ₹571-crore CCTV project, following sanction from the Union home ministry to prosecute Jain under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PoC Act) last week.

Jain has been named in the FIR, along with unidentified officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) and BEL, joint commissioner of police (ACB) Madhur Verma said.

In July last year, lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena approved the proposal of the Directorate of Vigilance (DoV) to refer the matter under the PoC Act to the Union home ministry to approve investigation against Jain by ACB for alleged corruption in the CCTV project.