Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party slipped into denials after India Today's incisive investigation uncovered possible corruption and nepotism in the Delhi government.

In public, the ruling AAP sought to skirt Wednesday's expose, at the centre of which was Surender Kumar Bansal, the late husband of the CM's sister-in-law. In private though, the Kejriwal administration had itself been aware of the man's incompetence in executing civic projects, official documents show.

An internal report scooped by India Today reveals how the public-works department itself red-flagged the working of Renu Construction owned by Bansal, now no more.

These notes, sent by top PWD engineers, demolish the AAP's clean chit to his company in the Bakoli drain scandal.

According to papers accessed by India Today, engineers raised serious questions over a project Renu Construction took up in Delhi's Jahangirpuri last year.

The contract was linked to rebuilding a drain in the area, with a six-month deadline ending February, 2017.

"The work was started by Renu Construction. During progress of the work, some defective work was rejected and intimated to the agency (the company), which is yet to be rectified by the agency," reads an internal PWD report. "The stipulated date of completion was February 7, 2017. So far 65 per cent has been completed and (the) work is still in progress."

The note emphasised that Surender Kumar Bansal's company failed to finish the drainage project in time earlier this year. Engineers also spotted a number of defects in its work linked to the contract worth Rs 1.59 crore.

In another damning feedback on Renu Construction, experts in the PWD noted the firm had not started work on a second contract despite three formal reminders.

Renu Construction was also asked to show cause for the delay, documents show. "Renu Construction did not start work and, therefore, a show-cause notice was issued on January 9 to start work within seven days. But Renu Construction neither submitted a reply nor did they start work at the site."

AAP'S RESPONSE

"We are talking about the chief minister of a state that has an annual budget of Rs 50,000 crore. This is the third budget he has presented this year. So, a chief minister who presides over a budget of Rs 50,000 crore a year would not even know what are the contracts that are happening, and in which department, because all the contracts of the Delhi government happen online. The tender submission, awarding and evaluation happen online. Besides L1, background checks also happen online on the basis of the documents submitted," said AAP spokesperson Ashish Khetan.

"Now, if the chief minister was so powerful and he was sending out emissaries and messages, how come the other two contracts got cancelled? [India Today] reported that there was showcause notice issued by the PWD department to the contractor and the company in question that the work is shoddy, that the work is behind schedule, please reply because the contract will be cancelled, an so on. Finally, one of the contracts got cancelled...Does this not show that there was fair play? Doesn't this show that the executive branch of the PWD department was under no pressure at all, and was not discriminatory just because the contractor happened to be a distant relative? The PWD department in this case show exactly that they were doing their job. They were hauling up the contractor over shoddy work and for being behind schedule," he said.

Meantime, anti-corruption sleuths raided a PWD office in north-west Delhi Thursday, a day after India Today broadcast the story on Bansal's suspected fraud in Bakoli village along NH-44.

Upset at the network for its stinging investigation, AAP activists heckled an India Today crew during a demonstration at the Election Commission Thursday.

Since the telecast of the story about suspected favouritism and graft, pressure has mounted on the embattled AAP. Both the Congress and the BJP have slammed the Delhi government, demanding thorough probe into the scandal involving the PWD department of Satyendar Jain and Kejriwal's late brother-in-law.

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Watch the video: AAP Ka Scam II: PWD had raised red flags on performance of Kejriwal kin's company