Charges baseless; Vedanta,MS still with us

Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the petition against his colleague Kiran Bedi based on which Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Bansal

Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal Monday alleged that the petition against his colleague Kiran Bedi based on which Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Bansal on Saturday directed Delhi Police to register an FIR against the former police officer was false,malicious and malafide,and aimed to target her because she was fighting for a strong Lokpal Bill.

Delhi lawyer Devendra Singh Chouhan had alleged that Bedi had accepted large donations from Microsoft and Vedanta Foundation for providing education and facilities to children of the police personnel while also charging the children,and while the facilities were being paid for by the organisations.

The appeal for filing of the FIR is based primarily on two points. That IVF cheated both Vedanta Foundation and Microsoft, Kejriwal said. But we have a letter from Vedanta which they sent to us today,in which they clearly indicate no wrongdoing by Kiran Bedis foundation.

He read out from the letter: We work as per our MoUs and in correspondence with police authorities as well as with IVF and are together for a cause which is being well achieved.

They would not have sent us this letter if there was any wrongdoing, Kejriwal said. Copies of the letter that were handed out to reporters were signed by T Ravi Krishnan but carried no visible date. Kejriwal also produced evidence that purported to give the lie to Chouhans claim that Microsoft had stopped payments to IVF once it found out about the cheating.

We have, Kejriwal said,correspondence dated November 16,which says that they Microsoft would shortly issue a PO of Rs 16 lakhs towards supporting the activities of India Police a trust run by Bedi. The letter says that the offer would be valid till June 30,2012. Again,this implies that the allegations are baseless.

Kejriwal attacked magistrate Bansals contention that an FIR must be filed for every complaint. In that case then,the FIR should have been filed in the Commonwealth Games case as well. Both cases came up one after another on Saturday. In fact,the Supreme Court guidelines say that in case there is a case against a public figure,the veracity of the allegation has to be verified. These are baseless, he said.

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Law Minister Salman Khurshid rejected Kejriwal8217;s allegations as irresponsible. I think it is a very irresponsible statement that judges are under any pressure8230; You cant8230; say government would use pressure on the judges, PTI quoted Khurshid as saying.