Kejriwal sacks food minister Asim after bribe complaint

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi took everyone by surprise on Friday by dramatically announcing the sacking of its environment and food minister, Asim Ahmed Khan, after a whistleblower accused him of corruption.
Khan, MLA from Matia Mahal, was alleged to have accepted a Rs 6 lakh bribe from a builder for an unauthorized construction in his constituency.The government has referred the case to CBI for investigation and appointed Ballimaran MLA Imraan Hussain in his place.
The complaint against Khan was reportedly received on Thursday and a decision was taken within 24 hours. The media didn’t get any inkling of the controversy till the press conference. The opposition too was caught unawares as the chief minister took the high moral ground and dared BJP to sack its chief ministers who were facing allegations.
“There is a serious complaint of corruption against cabinet minister Asim Khan. The complainant has sent an hour-long audio clip which I have heard. Prima facie, the complaint seems genuine. We cannot reveal the name of the complainant because he fears for his life. The complaint is that a building was coming up in his constituency. The builder was asked for Rs 6 lakh which he paid. We want to send out a message that we will not tolerate corruption. Therefore, we have decided to remove him as minister and will refer the complaint to CBI,” said Kejriwal.
Khan, who was at the Secretariat on Friday, said he had been asked to submit his resignation at 3.30pm which he had done. “There is a conspiracy against me. I will reveal the truth very soon, maybe as early as Saturday evening. I have not heard the recording and am in a state of shock. The party said that till the inquiry is on, I should not be in office,” said Khan.
Sources said a complaint had been received by a grievance cell set up by the party at the district level. The Delhi team then met the complainant and after a preliminary inquiry, asked for the recording. The complainant, however, asked for a meeting with the CM.

On Thursday, he met Kejriwal who heard the recording. “The recording is for well over an hour and has conversations between Khan, a middleman and the builder, recorded over 10 days,” said sources. “Once the facts were verified, the CM decided that this kind of corruption could not be tolerated. Four short clips that have been made public reveal Khan’s conversation with the middleman in which they are discussing the size of the plot and the amount to be taken. In another clip, the middleman is heard asking for his cut in the money changing hands. There is a conversation saying the amount should change hands in front of Moti Mahal and another one in which the middleman is telling the builder that the minister has refused to reduce the amount that he had demanded initially,” said sources.
Khan apparently told the government that he was being framed but government sources said in that case, he should have been more vigilant. “He cannot deny that it is his voice in the recording, nor can he deny that the conversation revolves around money changing hands. The government did not have any problem with him before this. He was a low-key minister who was working satisfactorily but the proof against him is undeniable. The second problem is this is just one case that has surfaced. There could be several others of which we are not aware,” said the sources.
Hussain, who will succeed Khan as minister, will take oath probably next week. The decision to replace Khan with another Muslim MLA was taken keeping in mind the massive support the party received from the minority community in the elections, a major factor in AAP’s landslide victory of 67 out of 70 seats.