Rajendra Kumar, an IAS officer of the 1989 batch and former Principal Secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has sought voluntary retirement from service after months of ordeal during which the CBI arrested him alleging corruption, and the Income Tax and Excise departments accused him of other illegalities.

A winner of the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration and an IIT alumnus, Mr. Kumar spoke to Josy Joseph.

Why have you decided to resign?

As I have written in my voluntary retirement request, I consider myself one of the biggest beneficiaries of the government programmes, excellent educational institutions that the government has established, scholarships they give and it is because of all these that even a person like me, from a poor family background, could come up this far. I always had a responsibility to give back, and in a way my trust in the government that helped me to come up in life is very, very high.

Even after these series of incidents, I was hoping and was confident that at some point the government would realise that what it is doing is not correct, not appropriate, and may be illegal. But when I found out finally that they are still continuing with the same methods, I realised that the government, which I always considered to be inanimate, is after all run by people and there are people in government who are misusing it.

Then I decided that public service being my ultimate purpose, I need to look for other methods of public service. That is why I have put in my VRS request.

Are you hopeful you will get VRS easily?

In the normal course, yes. I have spent 27 years in IAS. If I don’t get it then it would be one more example of the law being misused, and after that I will have the option to decide what I would do after the three-month notice period.

Are you joining politics?

I need to, I have to, and I must look for other avenues of public service. I am a sincere believer that the medium of government provides one the best way to serve the people, to go on the path of public service. Once that is stopped for me, forcibly and much against my wishes, I will look for other avenues of public service. There are NGOs, there are many good private companies, and I also consider politics as one of the good path for public service.

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You sound unusually confident despite being hounded not just by the CBI but so many other agencies?

Once the heart is clear and the mind is clear, I have always believed in the straight path. Even if others commit illegality, I am clear about the path on which I have to go, that is why I am calm and clear in my thinking.

And your fight is not just about proving yourself innocent?

That is a very small part. Please see that a person of my standing, my seniority, a person who has got the highest award for public service in this country, if he can be maligned and haunted like this, then there are millions of people who without being at the wrong-end of the law are being haunted and are being wronged. The fight is theirs. I am confident that I will come out clean. But this is not about me. It is about those millions who cannot even raise their voice.

You acknowledge the fact that there are individuals who have been harassing you. Will you set an example by holding those individuals, who are sworn to the Constitution and not to any political ideology, accountable to the rule of law?

That would also be my attempt. The much larger issue before the country and its people is how do we ensure that the laws and rules we have made are used properly, used appropriately, and used in the context and for the purpose for which they were enacted. If some statutory authority misuses that, it is a much bigger crime. If you mean rule of law, then all these people will also have to be made accountable for their actions, and I am sure it will happen.

In my VRS letter also I have mentioned about B.K. Bansal’s case (a senior official of the Corporate Ministry, he was accused by the CBI and his entire family committed suicide, accusing CBI officials of harassment). How can a responsible democratic system force somebody to commit suicide in such a gruesome manner? His wife, daughter and son were forced to commit suicide. Let us assume that he was guilty, then it is only the law, the judicial process, which could have determined that he was guilty and punished. People entrusted with the difficult task of investigation have absolutely no business to harass someone…each time they harass or abuse or beat somebody it is not only the abuse of the process of law, but a much bigger illegality committed which will have to be answered at a later day.

You spoke of Bansal. I wanted to bring in the arrest of former Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, which was criticised by the court later. Why is the CBI or other agencies going overboard? Are they ignorant of the law?

I don’t have much knowledge about the case of S.P. Tyagi. But the general impression which I have gathered in my case, the way my co-accused have been treated, and the way many of the other witnesses have been treated, many of them have been very severely beaten up. I must put it on record that I have not been beaten, but I have been harassed. I have been abused, abused with choicest expletives. I don’t bother much about it.

The beating up of people, hundreds of people they have called, and in each instance they have asked what property they hold, and then told them that the property they hold is Rajendra Kumar’s property. It is such a unique situation, the whole jurisprudence puts the onus on the prosecution and investigation to prove a statement. Here it was going in the opposite direction. When the person says it was his own property, he is told “You prove it is yours.” Then there is a need to bring all the documents, and in fact in two-three cases the CBI filed cases of disproportionate assets just to harass them. Their intent was name Rajendra Kumar, and the intent with me and my co-accused was that you name somebody else.

You mean they wanted you to name Arvind Kejriwal? Who told you? Did they explicitly tell you to name Mr. Kejriwal?

Yes, yes. There is an inspector in the CBI. And the DIG himself.

Who is the DIG?

DIG Sanjeev Gautam.

The same officer who was accused of harassment by Bansal in his suicide note?

Yes, he told me that ‘look if you want to get out of it, you will have to tell us things which can get him (Kejriwal) entangled legally.’ Not only this case, there is another case of Sandeep Sailas, a railway officer. He has written about misbehaviour, misconduct and illegality conducted by the DIG. The point is I don’t understand in which scenario an officer of a DIG rank can be so important that the whole CBI is willing to get its name dragged, its prestige lowered, they are still defending him. Either there is something very seriously wrong with the organisation, or may be some individuals in the CBI are more powerful than the CBI itself.

The public only knows mostly about the CBI haunting you. But the Income Tax department is also after you, right?

I have been filing Income Tax returns since the last 27 years. In the first 25 years, I did not get even a single I-T notice. In fact, because of my mistake I have got refund sometimes. Since May 2015, I think I have got 7-8 notices of I-T. Such stupid questions they ask. I have a house given to me by a society we had formed in Greater Noida. The society got the land under subsidised rates from the authority. I got 500 square feet plot in Great Noida at Rs. 6.5 lakh, everyone got at the same rate some 10-12 years ago. Sub-lease deed also mentions the market value of the property, which is for the purpose of property tax. So the same document mentions the market price of Rs.70 lakh. The Income-Tax officer says this difference is the undisclosed income. How ridiculous could it get? Not only that, this is undisclosed income, and where did you get it from? You got it from the so-called private company that you allegedly favoured. How? Because the CBI has made the claim. We are a statutory authority, then we make such stories? He is an Indian Revenue Service officer, a class I gazetted officer.

Are you going to let him off the hook?

There are legal processes I have already gone into, and it will take care. The important point is that the individual has allowed himself to be misused. Many of us in civil services should not allow ourselves to be misused. The salary which we get, if you are not satisfied, there are greener pastures, you should go out. Don’t let the civil service be maligned.

You also have excise cases against you?

There is another case which has been filed against me for allegedly keeping liquor beyond limits. The point is that the liquor at my home was within limits. Thus, no case could have been applied on me, so another section was added in the FIR. That section has been used only seven-eight times in last 50 years, alleging smuggling of liquor. To what extent are we stretching things?

Similarly, in the ACB (Anti-Corruption Branch, Delhi government) case, the grant of contract was of 2002. In 2012, I was Commissioner of Transport for a few months. They are asking me why I have not cancelled a contract, because there was an FIR filed in that case. I am sure people of constitutional responsibility would be guiding them (the CBI); it would be a great shock to the nation to know that they do not know that mere filing of an FIR doesn’t mean anything. It is my legal right to file an FIR against anybody in the country, including the President. Just because an FIR has been filed, an officer is supposed to cancel a contract? What can be more stupid that this?

Have IAS officers been supporting you?

We were friends, we were colleagues. We are friends, and remain colleagues.

There was this allegation from sources in the Modi government and those close to the Lieutenant-Governor’s office, that you were senior to Arvind Kejriwal in IIT and you were the brain behind the AAP government.

There was this question of how could those without any political experience think of new schemes, and apply rules, and make things happen. My feedback is that they zeroed in on to me. It is a great honour!

In fact, I was given hint many times that I should leave this government to go outside. My answer has always been that I am a civil servant, and my transfer is in the hands of the competent authority, if I am transferred I would not take more than a few days to move on. Last time when I was transferred out of Delhi, I went to Andaman in a few days time with my little daughters.

Is Kejriwal government doing well in Delhi?

I don’t know about its political part. As a government it is a sincere. Inside the government corruption has substantially gone down. I cannot vouch for others and I cannot say systems have been put in place. Corruption can be removed permanently only by making rules clear and straight, and adopting information technology.

You were once awarded the Prime Minister’s award, could your experience deter younger civil servants?

They should take it as an aberration. The system is very, very large. To my friends in the civil service, I would like to say that my belief in the goodness of civil service and government has not been shaken. Do what is correct, do what is in the best public interest.