The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has granted sanction to prosecute former Delhi ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain under the Prevention of Corruption Act in connection with an alleged scam in the construction of government schools and classrooms in the capital, reported The Indian Express on Friday.

President Droupadi Murmu has also approved the registration of a first information report against the two Aam Aadmi Party leaders, PTI reported, citing unidentified sources.

The alleged scam pertains to the construction of 12,748 classrooms in Delhi government schools at a highly inflated cost of about Rs 2,892.6 crore, according to a report by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Delhi government.

The complaint states that work was done at the rate of Rs 8,800 per square foot. “The lump sum cost for constructing a school room/building as per the tender awarded is Rs 24.86 lakh per room,” The Indian Express reported quoting an unidentified source privy to the contents of the complaint.

“According to the complaint, the prices have been inflated almost to the tune of five times to defraud the general public and the taxpayer by siphoning off money from the public exchequer under the garb of construction cost,” the person told the newspaper.

An audit by the Central Vigilance Commission found that 63 tenders were floated and awarded at Rs 860.82 crore. Deviations from the awarded amount “to the tune of 17% to 90%” were observed, resulting in “escalation of cost up to Rs 326.25 crore”.

Work amounting to Rs 42.5 crore was allegedly “executed without proper tender through existing contract of other school” and 1,214 toilet blocks were built with “extra expenditure of Rs 37 crore”, the newspaper reported.

The complaint further states: “The role of Minister of Education and Finance Manish Sisodia and Minister of Public Works Department Satyendar Jain needs to be thoroughly investigated as such a huge scam would have not been carried out without the ministers in charge of respective departments.”

In 2022, the vigilance directorate of the Delhi government had recommended an investigation into the alleged scam and submitted a report to the chief secretary.

A delegation of the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party, including Harish Khurana, Kapil Mishra and Neelkanth Bakshi, had first made the allegations in July 2019, accusing the then AAP government of a “huge scam to the tune of over Rs 2,000 crore” pertaining to constructing schools at highly inflated costs.

While Sisodia held the finance and education portfolios, Jain was in charge of the Public Works Department, which oversaw the construction work.

Reacting to the development, Sisodia said: “It has come to my attention that the Union government has lodged an FIR against me and Satyendar Jain regarding the construction of school buildings and classrooms. I want to tell the BJP and the Union government – file as many cases as you want. Whether it is against me, Satyendar Jain, Atishi, Arvind Kejriwal, or any other AAP leader, we will not bow down before the BJP.”

The BJP defeated the Aam Aadmi Party in the Assembly elections on February 8, three days after polling. The Hindutva party won in 48 constituencies while the Aam Aadmi Party bagged 21 seats in the 70-member Assembly.

A party or coalition needs at least 36 seats to stake claim to form the government in Delhi.