Court orders release of papers seized in Kejriwal raid

A Delhi court on Wednesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to release documents seized during searches at the office of Rajendra Kumar, principal secretary to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, and his staff.

In an application filed last month in the court of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special judge Ajay Kumar Jain, the Aam Aadmi Party government had urged for the release of the documents seized ''indiscriminately'' by the CBI, which were not related to or essential for investigation in the case related to the alleged financial irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).

Kejriwal had attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently and demanded his resignation over what he termed was a ''flop raid'' by the CBI at the Delhi secretariat to ''protect'' finance minister Arun Jaitley in the alleged DDCA scam.

The plea, filed through the government's standing counsel Rahul Mehra and Richa Kapoor, also sought initiation of ''stringent action against officials responsible for raiding in mala fide manner the Delhi government office and seizing documents to cause immense dislocation of work''.

It said the office functioning was ''greatly hampered, paralysed and dislocated'' after the CBI raid at the Delhi secretariat on 15 December in connection with the DDCA case.

The CBI denied Kejriwal's claim that it raided the chief minister's office.