Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra on Wednesday rubbished the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) notice to former chief minister Sheila Dikshit in the alleged water meter scam as a "letter of request" and "illegal" and demanded registration of FIRs against ACB chief Mukesh Kumar Meena and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
"A report came on the yesterday night that Shiela Dikshit had been served a notice in connection with the corruption in the purchase of water meters, which is two years and five months old. But when I saw a copy of the notice today, I was shocked to find that the content of the notice was such as if the ACB wanted to absolve Dikshit from all charges," said Mishra holding a press conference here.
Dubbing the ACB notice to Dikshit as a "prarthana patra" (a letter of request), Mishra read out notices issued to him as a complainant in the tanker scam case and to Dikshit as an accused in the water meter scam. "In the notice," he read out, "the complainant has been asked to be present at the PS Anti-Corruption Branch, Fifth Floor, Vikas Bhavan, at 11 a.m. on July 4. While the ACB writes to the accused, Shiela Dikshit, that a suitable and convenient date, time and place are required to be fixed for the above mentioned purpose in August 2016."
"Is Shiela Dikshi an auntie of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi? Is there taking place a celebration in the house where you need to fix date and time? Has Meenaji sent a basket of sweets and fruits along with the letter of request? All these are necessary to know," he said.
He, however, claimed, "Above all, what absolves Shiela Dikshit from the case is she has not been issued the notice under any section of the law, while I got the notice under section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). She is not bound to even reply to this notice. This is not a notice, but a request letter. It's 'illegal' on the part of ACB to issue a notice without mentioning a section."
Slamming the ACB notice to Dikshit as a "ugly joke", he demanded that Meena must quit as either he didn't know the law or was under severe pressure to let Sheila walk free.
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He also demanded that FIRs should be registered against the L-G and Meena for sitting of files relating to four cases of corruption for the past two years and five months and not taking any action on that.
Earlier in the day, the ACB issued notice to Dikshit asking her to join the investigation into the alleged irregularities in purchasing of water meters during her tenure.
Talking to reporters, Meena said there were allegations that the Delhi Jal Board had purchased 2.5 lakh water meters by flouting tendering norms to favour a private company, adding that the investigation was underway.
Meena said notices had been issued to Dikshit and other officials concerned into the matter.