Could “Team Anna” be heading for a break up?
The fact that Kiran Bedi – one of anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare’s most trusted associates – is now herself in the line of fire is further evidence it’s a possibility.
On November 27, Delhi police registered a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy against Bedi, as directed by a Delhi court a day prior. And Bedi’s predicament may get worse with the possibility of yet another serious case being launched against her in the next few days.
Devinder Singh Chauhan, an attorney on whose complaint Delhi’s authorities had ordered local police to file charges, contains two major claims.
The first alleges that instead of imparting free training or distributing free computers, Bedi, in collusion with some unknown party, cheated Vedanta Foundation and planned to deceive the children of police officers and various paramilitary forces in an attempt to collect Rs 20,000 ($385) per month per training center.
The second claim is that Bedi entered into a donation agreement with Vedanta in which Rs 6,000 out of a total of Rs 20,000 was to be paid by Vedanta to her two trusts, the India Vision Foundation and the Navjyoti Foundation, on the false grounds that she had arranged for land and electricity for a training center to run their activities. The land, facility and electricity were arranged by police organizations – Bedi had nothing to do with these arrangements.
The development means there’s a serious possibility of Bedi being incarcerated in Delhi’s Tihar jail, the very jail where she previously served as the top police officer a decade and a half ago.
Bedi for her part has remained defiant, as is evident by her post on Twitter on November 26:
“I am informed an FIR is registered against me. For me now nothing is a surprise! It only strengthens my resolve to do more.”