New Delhi, Feb 14 (IANS): The Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday accorded sanction to prosecute Rajendra Kumar, former principal secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

A ministry official told IANS that Kumar's request for voluntary retirement from service was also rejected because of pending prosecution against the officer.

Rajendra Kumar, a 1989 batch IAS officer, is accused of abusing his official position in awarding Delhi government contracts totalling Rs 9.5 crore to private firm Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had urged the Home Ministry to sanction his prosecution.

A decision to this effect was taken after careful examination of the request, the official said.

CBI spokesperson R.K. Gaur told IANS on Tuesday that "we requested the government to accord sanction to prosecute Kumar as the permission was needed to file chargesheet against him".

The CBI, on February 2, tried to file the chargesheet before a special court here but the court could not accepted it as required permission to prosecute the officer was not obtained till then.

The court then listed the matter for February 18 as the probing agency sought more time to file additional documents in the case.

Kumar was arrested on July 4 by the CBI and later granted bail by a court on July 26.