Amidst allegations and counter- allegations of manhandling being traded between him and a senior civic body official, NDMC Vice Chairman Karan Singh Tanwar today levelled accusations of graft against the latter, which were vehemently rejected.
Tanwar demanded a high-level inquiry against NDMC Enforcement Department Director Neeraj Bharti by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Delhi government alleging that he was involved in graft.
The allegation by Tanwar comes against the backdrop of a dispute between him and Bharti which saw both lodge departmental and police complaints last week claiming one was manhandled and abused by the other.
The VC, a BJP leader, also alleged that Bharti was being supported by the ruling AAP as Delhi government was disappointed over his appointment to the post by the Centre ignoring the chief minister's recommendation.
"I have got several complaints of corruption against Bharti. He has been terrorising people and extorting money from vendors. I request the Home Minister to order a high- level inquiry by ACB and suspension of the officer till then," Tanwar told a press conference here.
Bharti, meanwhile, rubbished the allegations as "motivated and baseless".
"These are baseless allegations. I am being framed and he (Tanwar) is trying to cover up the complaint raised by me against him. I demand that if there has to be any investigation, it should be donw after his removal to ensure that the probe is fair and unbiased," he said in response to the graft charges levelled by the NDMC vice-chairman.
Bharti had last week approached police and the NDMC chairman alleging that he was manhandled and abused by Tanwar in his office when he refused to stop an eviction drive against squatters in Sarojini Nagar.
Tanwar, who had denied the manhandling allegations, had later filed a counter complaint against Bharti, accusing him of manhandling him.
In the wake of the complaint by Bharti, AAP had demanded Tanwar's removal from the post of vice-chairman as the party charged that he was a "serial offender".
The Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS) Officers' Association has come out in Bharti's support and demanded the Home Ministry's intervention into the issue.
