The Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) has received approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to initiate an inquiry against senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and former Ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj and Satyendar Jain in connection with the alleged “irregularities” in the construction of hospitals, a Raj Niwas official said on Tuesday.
The approval was received under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which mandates a prior nod from the competent authority to initiate any inquiry or investigation against a public servant. On May 6, Delhi Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena had forwarded the ACB’s request to the MHA.
Responding to the development, AAP said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the L-G have turned governance into a “laughing stock” by “weaponising” routine project delays as alleged corruption.
Both Mr. Jain and Mr. Bharadwaj had held the Health portfolio in the previous AAP government.
A source in the L-G office said, “It came to notice that in 2018-19, 24 hospital projects were sanctioned for a total cost of ₹5,590 crore. But inexplicable delays and astronomical cost overruns indicate a large scale of fund siphoning.”
The source said that ₹1,125 crore was sanctioned in September 2021 for the construction of seven hospitals using pre-engineered structures and as of 2024, “only 50% of the work was completed, while ₹800 crore was utilised”. Moreover, the construction cost of a new block in Lok Nayak Hospital, from ₹465.52 crore, has almost “tripled to ₹1,125 crore” in just four years, the sourceadded.
Published – June 25, 2025 09:15 am IST
