Rs 2,000-crore classroom ‘scam’ case: Manish Sisodia says won’t appear before ACB today, BJP calls it ‘clear sign of guilt’

ACB officials said Sisodia conveyed through his counsel that he is preoccupied with other programmes and will not be able to appear before them at 11 am. The AAP leader’s counsel said he will file a reply via email. The ACB officials said they will send out another summons soon after reviewing the reply.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said in a statement, “Sisodia will not be going to ACB on Monday due to a pre-scheduled programme. His lawyer has sent a reply on his behalf.”

ACB issued summonses to former AAP ministers Sisodia and Satyendar Jain on June 3 in connection with the case. Jain was questioned last Friday for over five hours.

Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, meanwhile, accused the former deputy CM of “looting” Rs 2,000 crore in the name of “building classrooms”.

In a video message uploaded on X, Sirsa said, “Neither you (Sisodia) are the deputy CM, nor an MP, MLA, or a councillor. Then how come you are so busy?” He further wrote, “Sisodia’s refusal to appear before the ACB is a clear sign of his guilt in the classroom construction scam.”

The summons came after the ACB registered an FIR in the matter on April 30 based on allegations of financial irregularities in the construction of more than 12,000 classrooms or semi-permanent structures in Delhi government schools.

Sisodia held the finance and education portfolios in the AAP government, while Jain was the minister of health, industries, power, home, urban development, and the Public Works Department (PWD).

Madhur Verma, Joint Commissioner of Police, who heads the ACB, had confirmed the registration of the FIR.

BJP leaders Kapil Mishra, Harish Khurana, and Neelkant Bakshi had filed a complaint in 2019, alleging financial irregularities in the construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools in three zones. They said the construction cost per room stood at approximately Rs 24.86 lakh, exponentially higher than the roughly Rs 5 lakh it takes for similar constructions in Delhi. The BJP leaders also alleged that the project was awarded to 34 contractors, most of whom were associated with the AAP.

According to ACB officials, 12,748 semi-permanent structures were supposed to be built for Rs 1,200 per square ft, but the cost shot up to around Rs 2,292 per sq ft during construction. ACB is probing this alleged cost-escalation.

-With PTI inputs