On Thursday morning, two members of Delhi’s Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) raided the offices of Delhi Commission of Women (DCW). The raid comes barely days after former DCW chairperson Barkha Shukla Singh lodged a complaint with Delhi ACB, complaining of irregular recruitments.

The current chairperson of DCW, Swati Maliwal spoke to Newslaundry, and described the raid as “tactics of intimidation”. She is of the belief that ever since she took over as DCW chief, the commission has started handling hundreds of cases, including high profile cases, and it has been putting pressure on the Central government to act. “We are the most active commission of the country,” said Maliwal, adding that in comparison to DCW in Singh’s tenure, the commission had been far less active. She said that DCW has already handled over 400 cases this year. “I have personally made 50 visits and sent 50 recommendations. We are doing our work and hence these attacks are coming our way,” said Maliwal.

Singh’s issue with DCW is that according to her, it hasn’t followed due course while appointing members and councillors. “They have appointed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers,” Singh told Newslaundry. “No public advertisements were made for these appointments, high salaries are being disbursed now.”

When asked how these appointments were illegal, Singh said, “During my tenure, proper advertisements were published for recruitment of councillors.” Among the mandatory requirements were 10 years of experience along with a Master degree in Social Works. Singh alleges these are being ignored now.

Alleging rampant nepotism, Singh said, “Raj Mangal Prasad is drawing salary as high as Rs one lakh. He has contested Lok Sabha elections on AAP ticket.” The former Congress member also singled out Sarika Chaudhary and Prabhsahay Kaur, who she says are new recruits and drawing salaries of Rs 35,000. Chaudhary has contested in general elections on AAP ticket from Uttar Pradesh. Kaur is daughter of AAP leader HS Phoolka.

Maliwal says these accusations are baseless. “During her [Singh’s] tenure, DCW had 42 employees, and now we have 80 people working with us. However, all appointments are of contractual nature,” said Maliwal, adding that all due the processes have been followed. “All appointments are on emergent contracts basis and our increasing requirements. Hundreds of cases are coming up every day and we are taking action within 72 hours. Hence we need people to tackle all these cases,” she told Newslaundry.

Alleging foul play, Maliwal suggested that Delhi Chief Secretary (CS) Omesh Saigal was unhappy with DCW and had complained to the ACB about Maliwal. “A lady approached DCW with a complaint against the former Delhi CS Omesh Saigal,” said Maliwal. “The accused in the case, that is Saigal, wrote to ACB that we misused our position [by filing an FIR against him].”

While, claims of appointment of people with AAP background certainly hold ground, ACB’s swift action on the complaint also raises a few questions. Given prior precedents of arrest of AAP MLAs by Delhi Police, ACB’s action,which like Delhi Police falls under Central government, cannot be seen in isolation especially when DCW chief Maliwal is considered a close aide to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Newslaundry tried to reach several senior officials of Delhi ACB, including Additional Commissioner Alok Kumar, but no one was available for comment.