Delhi Services Secy alleges intimidation by minister Saurabh Bharadwaj

PTI, May 19, 2023, 8:15 PM IST

Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj (Source: PTI / File)

New Delhi: Amid growing discord between bureaucrats and the Delhi government, Services Secretary Ashish More, who was removed by the AAP dispensation, has alleged that minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has “personal vengeance” against him and has threatened “to ruin his life”.

Responding to the allegations, Bharadwaj said More’s conduct was “on record”.

More has submitted a report to the Delhi Chief Secretary, claiming Bharadwaj threatened him saying, “I will ruin your life. I am a resident of Chirag Dilli”. He sought security in view of the “serious threat”.

Bharadwaj, an MLA from Greater Kailash, resides in Chirag Delhi.

“If he said it was physical assault or I showed a gun, what could I have done. The conduct of the officer is on record. He said he will follow the transfer order and then he absconded and went incommunicado,” Bharadwaj said when asked about More’s charges against him.

He said the Delhi government is going to take action against several officers and everything will be soon cleared.

More was transferred hours after a Supreme Court order on May 11 put the control of bureaucrats working with the Delhi government (excluding those related to police, public order, and land) under the elected government.

In his report, More said he was called by Bharadwaj to his office on May 16 and was asked about all files pertaining to the decisions of previous years.

“Apart from that, he was asking for a file pertaining to the Notification of Civil Services Board (CSB) which was issued in the year 2014,” he said in the report, noting he had already asked officials to provide it to Bharadwaj.

More claimed Kinny Singh, who is Special Secretary (Services), was also called by Bharadwaj and asked the same questions. He also claimed that when he asked for permission to leave Bharadwaj’s room, the minister accused him of “deliberately not following the directions of the elected government”.

More told the minister he was “following all instructions”, but alleged that the minister “did not pay heed to my submission” and went on shouting in an “extremely aggressive and intimidating tone and posture”.

The IAS officer also claimed that he was asked to sign a document but when he refused to do so, the “minister became extremely furious and started shouting over me, saying that ‘sign kar, aise kaise sign nahi karega… tere ko karna hi padega. Isske baad tera career khatam. Teri toh zindagi barbaad karke rakhunga. Issi Dill.. Chirag Dilli ka rehne wala hu’ (Sign it, you have to sign. After that, your career is over. I will ruin your life. I hail from Chirag Dilli)… I do not understand the specific emphasis on the ‘Chirag Dilli’ by the minister”.

Alleging that he was “detained by the minister in his room for over an hour”, More said that Bharadwaj told him and Kinny Singh that their careers were over.

More claimed he was also told by the minister that he “now has a personal enmity against me and will take vengeance even though I submitted to him that the matter is nothing personal from my side and I am performing my duties as per prescribed rules and procedures”.

“The Hon’ble Minister acted in a rude and verbally violent and even in a physically threatening manner by getting up from his chair and coming over my seat to force me to sign the statement. There was every possibility of a physical assault on me by him at that point of time. It reveals that the Hon’ble Minister has a personal vengeance against me which he himself clearly said to me,” he wrote.