After ₹1,300 crore classroom scam, ex-Delhi minister Satyendar Jain booked in CCTV project corruption case

The Delhi government's Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) has registered a case against former Public Works Department (PWD) minister and senior AAP leader Satyendar Jain over alleged corruption in a ₹571-crore CCTV project, an official said on Wednesday.

Joint Commissioner of Police (ACB) Madhur Verma said Jain is accused of arbitrarily waiving liquidated damages worth ₹16 crore imposed on Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for delays in installing CCTV cameras across Delhi.

"The waiver was allegedly granted after receiving a ₹7 crore bribe," Verma said in a statement.

The FIR was registered on Tuesday after obtaining prior sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act from the competent authority, Verma added.

The classroom scam

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), in a report dated February 17, 2020, had highlighted "glaring irregularities" in the construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools by the PWD.

In July 2019, BJP leader Harish Khurana and then AAP rebel MLA Kapil Mishra, now a minister in the Delhi government, lodged a police complaint about the alleged scam.

According to a report prepared by the ACB of the Delhi government, the complainants alleged that there was a scam worth over ₹2,000 crore in the construction of classrooms and school buildings in Delhi. The work was done at a highly inflated cost by the Delhi government.

The alleged scam involves the construction of around 12,748 classrooms.

The ACB report said the total expenditure incurred for constructing the classrooms and school buildings was around ₹2,892.65 crore. They were allegedly constructed at the rate of ₹8,800 per square feet, whereas it was common knowledge that the average construction cost (even for a builder of flats) was around ₹1,500 per square feet.

The total cost for constructing a classroom and school building, according to the tender awarded, was allegedly around ₹24.86 lakh per room, whereas such rooms are easily constructed in Delhi at around ₹5 lakh per room, it said.

The prices were increased almost five times to defraud the taxpayer by siphoning off money from the public exchequer in the garb of construction cost, the report said.

(With inputs from PTI)