Classroom construction 'scam': ED raids multiple places in Delhi

The Enforcement Directorate ED on Wednesday searched multiple premises in the national capital as part of a money laundering investigation into the classroom construction scam that is alleged to have taken place during the previous AAP government official sources said according to the PTIThe federal probe agency carried out the raids after it recently registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA taking cognisance of a Delhi AntiCorruption Bureau ACB FIR into the said allegations reported PTIAt least 37 premises of contractors and private entities linked to the case have been covered by the ED officials the sources saidThe ACB had booked Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain Aam Aadmi Party AAP leaders and former ministers in the Arvind Kejriwalled Delhi government in its complaint filed on April 30 It was alleged that financial irregularities amounting to 2000 crore rupees were done in the construction of over 12000 classrooms or semipermanent structures in Delhi government schoolsThe accused in the ED case are the same sources told PTIHowever AAP after the filing of the Delhi ACB case had charged that the ruling BJP was using the probe agency ACB as a tool to target its leaders and claimed there was no corruption in the construction of classroomsSisodia 53 held the finance and education portfolios in the previous AAP government and Jain 60 was incharge of the public works department and some other ministries They both were summoned by the ACB for questioning in this case earlier this monthAccording to PTI Jain had deposed once while Sisodia skipped the date and is expected to be called again by the ACB The AAP had called the ACB summons pure politicsBoth Sisodia and Jain have been investigated by the ED in separate money laundering cases earlier Sisodia was arrested and chargesheeted by the agency in the alleged Delhi liquor scam case while Jain was taken into custody in 2022 and later chargesheeted in an alleged hawala transactions and possession of disproportionate assets caseThe ACB FIR came about after alleged lapses in this case were flagged by the Central Vigilance Commission CVCMeanwhile Delhi BJP leaders like Kapil Mishra Harish Khurana and Neelkant Bakshi had in 2019 filed a complaint with the ACB alleging serious financial irregularities in the construction of classrooms across three zones of DelhiThe ACB further alleged that the total expenditure incurred on the project amounted to 2892 crore rupees pushing the perclassroom cost to 2486 lakh rupees compared to the estimated 5 lakh rupees per room under standard normsHowever it claimed the project was awarded to 34 contractors most of whom were allegedly linked to AAPThe construction involved SemiPermanent Structures SPS with an expected lifespan of 30 years yet costs matched those of Reinforced Cement Concrete RCC structures which typically last up to 75 yearsThe ACB further claimed that the consultant and architect for the project were appointed without following due processThe Chief Technical Examiner CTE of the Central Vigilance Commission had raised serious violations of various clauses in its report which highlighted gross violations of CPWD Works Manual 2014 GFR 2017 and CVC guidelines However the report was allegedly suppressed for nearly three years it addedWith inputs from PTI