Months after the Directorate of Vigilance (DoV) sought the Centre’s nod to initiate a probe against former Delhi ministers Saurabh Bhardwaj and Satyender Jain for alleged irregularities in the construction of 24 hospitals in 2018-19, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday searched the premises of Bharadwaj and 12 others, making him the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader to come under the agency’s scanner.
Bhradwaj’s residence was among 13 locations in the Capital and nearby areas that the agency raided in connection with the case, a probe into which was initiated after the then Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta filed a complaint.
The ED investigation against Bhardwaj, who is the Delhi AAP unit chief and national spokesperson for his party, stems from an FIR registered by Delhi’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) in June.
In August last year, the ACB booked Bharadwaj, his party colleague, ex-health minister Satyendar Jain, private contractors and unknown Government officials for alleged corruption in health infrastructure projects by the AAP government led by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Bharadwaj, the sitting MLA from Greater Kailash, has previously held crucial portfolios such as Health, Urban Development, and Water, and has also served as Chairman of the Delhi Jal Board.
The AAP has alleged blatant misuse of agencies to defame its leaders. The ACB complaint came after the Delhi BJP alleged “grave irregularities and suspected corruption in various health infrastructure projects under the Delhi government”.
The ACB complaint alleged “systematic manipulation of project budgets, misuse of public funds and collusion with private contractors”. It alleged that during 2018-19, 24 hospital projects worth Rs 5,590 crore were sanctioned. However, these projects remained largely incomplete, with substantial and unexplained cost escalations.
Similarly, the Rs 1,125-crore ICU Hospital Project, covering seven pre-engineered facilities with a total of 6,800 beds, is only 50 per cent complete after nearly three years and an expenditure of Rs 800 crore, despite an initial six-month completion timeline, according to ACB officials.
ED officials said the searches are based on material collected during the course of investigation and allegations contained in the FIR regarding large-scale corruption, unjustified cost escalations, unauthorised constructions and misappropriation of funds in health infrastructure projects of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD).
This isn’t the first instance of AAP leaders facing ED action. Manish Sisodia and Kejriwal came under the ED’s radar in the Delhi excise policy case, Jain was targeted over alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board, while Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan faced searches linked to money laundering charges.
Following the raids, AAP hit out at the ED and Union Government, calling it a BJP-led conspiracy and said that AAP is the “most targeted political outfit” in the country’s history. Meanwhile, the BJP has welcomed the raid against the AAP MLA, accusing the former Delhi government under Kejriwal of being “corrupt in all fields”. AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said his party would not be intimidated by this “misuse” of central investigation agencies by the Modi government. He said no party has targeted AAP like the BJP in the past. He said actions are being taken because the AAP is the “most vocal voice” against the Centre. Sisodia claimed that the case against Bharadwaj is “false”.
The BJP said the ED’s raids against Bharadwaj have exposed the “medical scam” under the previous AAP government. “We have said it earlier also that the previous AAP Government led by Arvind Kejriwal looted Delhi through scams. Now the party is trying to fool people in other states,” Sachdeva said.