Ex-cop Kiran Bedi faces fresh ‘cheating’ case

The crime branch of the Delhi police on Sunday registered a case against Kiran Bedi, India's first woman police officer and now a key member of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption brigade.

The first information report (FIR) was filed on a complaint by Devinder Singh Chauhan, a Delhi-based lawyer, who alleged that Bedi had looted various paramilitary forces and state police organisations in the guise of giving free computer training through her trust, India Vision Foundation.

Bedi faces charges under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (criminal conspiracy). The FIR was filed a day after additional chief metropolitan magistrate Amit Bansal directed the crime branch to register a case against Bedi on the complaint of Chauhan.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand confirmed that a case had been registered but made no further comments. Bedi's immediate arrest is unlikely, but reports suggest she is likely to be called in for questioning this week.

Chauhan's complaint alleges that a 'Meri Police' scheme run by Bedi's foundation was supposed to provide free computer training to the children and families of personnel in the Central Industrial Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, and state police organisations.

The complaint alleges that the foundation received Rs50 lakh from Microsoft, but nonetheless charged each student around Rs15,000. When Microsoft learnt about this ''money laundering'', it stopped donations to her trust, it says.