Former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia arriving at the office of the Anti-Corruption Branch in New Delhi on Friday.
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
The Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on Friday questioned Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia for close to four hours in a graft case related to the construction of classrooms in government schools.
He had skipped the earlier summons for June 9 due to some “pre-planned” engagements.
The ACB had also questioned Satyendar Jain, another AAP leader and former Delhi Minister, in connection with the case on June 6. The FIR filed by the ACB on April 30 named Mr. Sisodia and Mr. Jain and alleged financial irregularities to the tune of ₹2,000 crore in the building of over 12,000 classrooms or semi-permanent structures between 2015-16 and 2022-23 during the AAP government’s tenure.
In a statement, the ACB chief, Joint Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma, said Mr. Sisodia appeared before the agency at 11 a.m. and was there till 2.30 p.m.
“He was examined in the presence of an independent witness and his responses were recorded regarding various facts and circumstances related to the case,” he said.
‘Politically motivated’
Ahead of his appearance, Mr. Sisodia told the media that the BJP, “driven by political vendetta”, is misusing its agencies to register FIRs in cases where there was no wrongdoing.
“This is a completely politically motivated case. Nothing came out of it earlier, and nothing will come out of it now,” he said.
“Now that the BJP is in power in Delhi, the probe agencies are receiving full cooperation. Not only Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, several other AAP leaders will soon land in jail,” countered Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva.
The Enforcement Directorate had on Wednesday carried out searches across multiple locations in Delhi in connection with the alleged scam.
Published – June 21, 2025 12:37 am IST