ACB grills Sisodia over alleged Rs 2,000-crore school project scam
New Delhi: Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia was grilled for over three hours by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on Friday in connection with an alleged Rs.2,000-crore scam in the construction of classrooms during the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s tenure. The session, held at the ACB’s Vikas Bhawan office, focused on financial disbursements and approvals made under Sisodia’s watch as both education and finance minister.
This marks Sisodia’s first appearance since he was summoned on June 3. He had initially deferred his appearance citing responsibilities in Punjab, where he was overseeing the Ludhiana West bypolls as AAP’s election in-charge.
The case pertains to construction of around 12,748 classrooms under the Delhi Public Works Department (PWD), then headed by former minister Satyendar Jain. The FIR, registered on April 30, names both Sisodia and Jain under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC, citing inflated costs, procedural lapses, and unauthorized expansions.
Simultaneously, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting a parallel investigation into the same case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The agency recently conducted raids at 37 locations, recovering 322 bank passbooks linked to alleged mule accounts, forged documents, and departmental files. According to the ED, funds were diverted through accounts opened in the names of labourers.
“The scope of the project increased from 2,405 to 12,748 classrooms without due approvals,” said an ED spokesperson. “Richer specifications proposed by M/s Babbar and Babbar Associates led to inflated work and duplicate billing, with cost escalations up to 49 per cent.”
AAP, however, has denounced the probe as politically motivated. At a press conference, senior AAP leader Atishi accused the BJP of orchestrating a smear campaign to hide its administrative failures. “This so-called classroom scam is just another episode in the BJP’s long-running series of fake cases,” she said. “Over 200 cases have been filed against AAP leaders in the past decade, but not a single rupee of corruption has ever been proven.”
Calling it a diversion tactic, she added, “There is no evidence. No money has been recovered. BJP wants to dismantle Delhi’s successful public school system in collusion with private school mafias.”
Criticising the BJP-led Delhi government’s performance, Atishi said, “There are blackouts, water crises, waterlogging, and rising school fees, BJP is failing on all fronts and using agencies to distract the public.”
