The Enforcement Directorate has recovered 322 bank passbooks during search operations at 37 locations across Delhi under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in the alleged classroom construction scam.
These were linked to mule accounts opened in the names of labourers and were used to divert government funds under the guise of legitimate transactions. The search operations were conducted on June 18.
'Furthermore, forged letterheads of various private contractors and shell entities, which were used to generate fake procurement records and fictitious purchase bills, were found and seized. Evidences relating to fake invoices submitted to Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) departments, showing inflated or entirely bogus claims, were found and seized,' a press statement by the ED claimed.
ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIR registered by the anti-corruption branch, GNCTD, against Manish Sisodia, the then education minister, Satyendra Jain (the then public works department or PWD minister) and others.
This was pertaining to alleged financial misappropriation exceeding Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of around 12,748 additional classrooms by the PWD, GNCTD, between 2015 and 2023.
ED said that several dummy firms have been found during the search and they had no real infrastructure, documentation, or operational legitimacy.
These firms were shown to have received substantial payments for construction activities relating to the additional classrooms.
'Additionally, substantial incriminating documents and digital evidence have been recovered and seized during the search,' said ED.
'Despite an initial requirement for 2,405 classrooms, the project scope was arbitrarily increased to 7,180 equivalent classrooms. And, subsequently it went up to 12,748 classrooms without proper sanction or approvals, resulting in massive cost escalations,' said the ED statement.
ED further said there was unjustified adoption of premium specifications proposed by Babbar & Babbar Associates, and execution of duplicate and inflated works. Cost escalations of up to 49.03 per cent were observed across Priority-I and Priority-II phases.
The investigative agency unearthed substantial incriminating evidence from the premises of private contractors.
'Among the materials seized were original departmental files belonging to the GNCTD, as well as rubber stamps bearing the names and designations of officials from the PWD,' the ED added.
-- Harsh Kumar, Business Standard
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