India Against Corruption Activist Arvind Kejriwal has announced an independent inquiry into the corruption charges leveled upon three IAC Activists Anjali Damania, Prashant Bhushan and Mayank Gandhi.
The inquiry would be conducted by a three member probe panel headed by AP Shah, former chief justice of the Delhi high court and shall include Justice BH Marlapalle of the Bombay high court and justice Jaspal Singh of the Delhi high court.
According to a report published in DNA newspapers, this inquiry will start on Monday and the committee will give its report within three months. Kejriwal said the trio will have to resign from his party if found guilty. “When we announced the formation of a political party, we said that if charges of corruption are levelled against any party member, an internal Lokpal will inquire into them,†Kejriwal said after calling for the probe.
India Against Corruption (IAC) said the three-member committee has been asked to examine the allegations and material evidence against the three accused. “If any member is found guilty of any illegal activity, he would be expected to resign from the proposed party,†the IAC said in a statement.
Damania is accused of benefiting from a change in land use of property she purchased in Maharashtra’s Raigad district. Last year, Prashant Bhushan was accused of illicitly acquiring land in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh. Mayank Gandhi has been accused of irregularities in getting a land redevelopment project in Mumbai for an NGO he was associated with.
Many of these allegations have been doing the rounds for a while. Kejriwal decided to order an independent inquiry to prove that his party was “different†from the political parties he has targeted so far. The announcement is as much about damage control as it is about setting an example of how Kejriwal’s party is about different kind of politics.