The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it had recovered more than 300 bank passbooks linked to suspected “mule” accounts opened in the names of labourers and used to divert government funds in connection with its money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in the construction of classrooms during the previous Delhi government’s tenure. AAP leader Manish Sisodia is an accused in the case. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

The agency also seized forged letterheads of private contractors and shell firms used to fabricate procurement records and generate bogus purchase bills, along with original government departmental files and rubber stamps bearing the names and designations of officials from the Public Works Department (PWD).

“During searches, ED unearthed substantial incriminating evidence from the premises of a private contractor. Among the materials seized were original files belonging to the Delhi government, and 322 passbooks linked to mule accounts in labourers’ names used to mask the diversion of public money under the guise of legitimate payments,” the agency said in a statement.

ED said these mule accounts and forged documents were part of a wider operation involving fake invoices and inflated or entirely bogus claims for construction work on additional classrooms. Dummy firms with no infrastructure or operational legitimacy had been shown to receive substantial payments for these activities. Substantial documents and digital evidence pointing to irregularities were seized, the agency added.

The raids were conducted across 37 locations in Delhi on June 18. The ED’s probe is based on an FIR registered by the Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), which is investigating procedural lapses and suspected corruption in a project involving the construction of 12,748 semi-permanent classrooms. Initially estimated at ₹860 crore, the project’s cost reportedly rose to over ₹2,800 crore between 2015 and 2023, allegedly without fresh tenders or adherence to standard procurement rules.

Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and former Delhi ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain are currently under investigation by both the ACB and ED in connection with the case.

Reacting to the June 18 raids, the AAP said in a statement that the “so-called raids are nothing but a desperate attempt to divert public attention,” calling the allegations “baseless, politically motivated, and aimed at distracting from the BJP’s anti-people actions.”