New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Friday said that it had recovered original files belonging to the Delhi government as well as rubber stamps bearing the names and designations of officials from the Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) during searches carried out in the national capital linked to the Delhi Classroom Construction Scam case.
The ED’s case stems from a Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch FIR that alleges funds worth Rs 2,000 crore were misappropriated during a project for the construction of school classrooms when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was in power.
In April, former AAP ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain were booked in the case. They held the education and public works portfolios, respectively.
The federal probe agency Wednesday began searches at premises linked to contractors involved in the construction of school classrooms between 2015 to 2023.
An ED spokesperson said in a statement that, in the raids conducted across 37 locations in Delhi-NCR, investigators also recovered forged letterheads of shell companies as well as recovered passbooks of 322 accounts that appeared to have been opened in the names of labourers working on the project for the alleged diversion of government funds.
It did not give details on what locations were searched in the raids.
Meanwhile, Sisodia appeared before the investigating officers Friday and the Anti-Corruption Branch recorded his statement as part of the investigation in the case.
The case links back to a complaint filed in July 2019 by leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Kapil Mishra who is now a Delhi cabinet minister.
The complaint alleged that the costs of building classrooms had “allegedly been inflated nearly five-fold to defraud the general public and siphon off funds from the public exchequer under the guise of construction expenses”.
Contracts, it alleged, were awarded at the rate of Rs 24.86 lakh per classroom, while they could be constructed at around Rs 5 lakh. It said 12,748 classrooms were built at an overall cost of Rs 2,892 crore.
The FIR also alleged that while there was a requirement of 2,405 classrooms in Delhi, this number was arbitrarily increased to first 7,180 classrooms, and finally to 12,748 rooms without proper sanction or approvals.
Additionally, it was alleged that contracts for these construction works were awarded to 34 contractors, the majority of which were related to the ruling dispensation.
During the searches that concluded early Friday, the ED also raided the premises of prominent Delhi-based contractor, Babbar and Babbar Associates.
In the statement, the ED spokesperson said there was “unjustified adoption of richer specifications proposed by Babbar and Babbar Associates, and execution of duplicate and inflated works. Cost escalations of up to 49.03 percent were observed across Priority-I and II phases”. In Phase I, the government intended to construct classrooms, labs, and toilets, while in the Phase II, it constructed classrooms under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)