Delhi Corruption Cases: President Draupadi Murmu has given her approval to register an FIR against senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain in the alleged scam of Rs 1,300 crore in the construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools. The Vigilance Directorate of the Delhi government had recommended an investigation into the alleged scam in 2022. A report was also submitted to the Chief Secretary regarding this demand. Earlier, the Union Home Ministry (MHA) also on Thursday gave approval to prosecute both the former AAP ministers in the corruption cases registered against them.
Sources told news agency PTI that the President has given approval to register an FIR against Sisodia and Jain in connection with the alleged scam that took place when they were ministers in the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in a report dated February 17, 2020 exposed 'gross irregularities' in the construction of over 2,400 classrooms in Delhi government schools by the Public Works Department (PWD).
According to Hindustan Times, President Draupadi Murmu has given the nod to Delhi's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act to launch a formal probe against Sisodia and Jain in connection with the irregularities. Sisodia was the education minister at the time, while Jain was handling Delhi's PWD ministry.
In July 2018, the central government added Section 17A to the Prevention of Corruption Act through an amendment. Under this, it was made mandatory for the police, CBI or any investigating agency dealing with corruption-related crimes to take prior permission before investigating any crime related to corruption.
On February 18, President Draupadi Murmu gave her approval to prosecute Jain in a money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate, PTI reported. The approval was sought against the 60-year-old former Delhi health minister under Section 218 of the Indian Civil Defence Code.
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The Home Ministry had requested the President to grant sanction to prosecute Jain based on the investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and presence of 'sufficient evidence'. The CBI had filed a chargesheet in the case in December 2018. It said the alleged disproportionate assets amounted to Rs 1.47 crore, which was nearly 217 per cent more than Jain's known sources of income during 2015-17.
