Witnesses In Case Against Arvind Kejriwal Aide Being Threatened: CBI

New Delhi: CBI today opposed the bail plea of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's ex-Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar before a special court alleging there were continuous efforts to threaten witnesses in the graft case.

"We have evidence that even till today, they (accused) are threatening the witnesses... Kumar's presence outside will create intimidating atmosphere for witnesses," the agency told Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar who has reserved order on his bail plea for July 25.

CBI claimed that if granted bail at this stage, Mr Kumar "may tamper with evidence. The money trail is still needed to be probed and the investigation is at its crucial stage."

Regarding the alleged threat to the witnesses, the CBI claimed that it has received complaint in this regard.

During the arguments, senior advocate Mohit Mathur, who appeared for Mr Kumar, said that his client should be granted the relief as he was not required for further probe and recoveries have already been made by the CBI.

"My client's medical condition is such that he should be granted bail. Also, he is required to be present with his daughter to take care of her as she is seriously ill at the moment," the counsel said, while denying threat to witnesses.

Meanwhile, another accused in this case, Tarun Sharma, former Deputy Secretary in Mr Kejriwal's office, today approached the court seeking bail which will be heard on on July 29.

The court has already sought response from the CBI by Monday on the bail applications of Mr Kumar's close aide Ashok Kumar and Managing Director of a PSU, RS Kaushik.

Besides the four accused, CBI had also arrested owners of a private firm Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd (ESPL), Sandeep Kumar and Dinesh Kumar Gupta and Kaushik's predecessor GK Nanda, former Managing Director of Intelligent Communication Systems India Ltd (ICSIL), a Delhi government undertaking.

According to CBI, the five accused were allegedly showing undue favours to private firm ESPL which the agency alleged was floated by Kumar for the award of government contracts worth over Rs 50 crore.

CBI had registered a case against Mr Kumar and others in December last year alleging that the officer had abused his official position by "favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders of Delhi government departments".