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ED raids AAP's Saurabh Bharadwaj, others in Delhi health infra 'scam'
Public Lokpal
August 26, 2025
ED raids AAP's Saurabh Bharadwaj, others in Delhi health infra 'scam'
New Delhi : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted raids at at premises inked to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj, and others in connection with an alleged hospital construction scam in Delhi during his tenure as the health minister.
Around a dozen locations in the national capital are being searched by the federal probe agency under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
Bharadwaj, who currently represents the Greater Kailash constituency, has held several key positions in the Delhi government. He has also served as Chairman of the Delhi Jal Board and currently heads AAP’s Delhi unit.
The ACB complaint came after the Delhi BJP alleged in August last year "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).
Following the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid at Delhi Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj's residence, political tensions escalated with both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trading accusations.
Reacting to the development, AAP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claimed the raid was politically motivated and aimed at diverting attention from the ongoing controversy surrounding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic qualifications.
Sisodia pointed out that when the case was initially filed by the investigating agency, Bhardwaj was not even serving as a minister in the Delhi government.
He labelled the allegations baseless and cited the case of former Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain as an example of what he described as false cases being used to target AAP leaders.
Supporting this claim, AAP leader and former minister Atishi alleged that Satyendar Jain was jailed for three years without any concrete evidence being found against him. She noted that investigating agencies have now reportedly filed a closure report in his case.
In response, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva accused the AAP government of corruption, claiming that the party had “looted Delhi” over the past year. He said the ED raid validated long-standing allegations made by the BJP about financial irregularities under the Arvind Kejriwal-led administration.
Agencies
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