The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday carried out searches at the residence of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bharadwaj in Delhi, along with nearly a dozen other locations. The raids are linked to an alleged scam concerning the construction of hospitals during his tenure as the city’s health minister.
The probe stems from a complaint earlier filed by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), which had highlighted serious irregularities in hospital projects sanctioned by the AAP government.
Background of the Hospital Construction Projects
According to the ACB investigation, the Delhi government approved 24 hospital projects in 2018–19, including 11 new (greenfield) and 13 existing (brownfield) projects, with an estimated cost of ₹5,590 crore.
The plan was to complete intensive care hospitals within six months. However, even after three years, most projects were incomplete, with little visible progress on the ground. Shockingly, nearly 50% of the sanctioned funds had already been spent.
Officials flagged unexplained delays and massive cost escalations, raising suspicions of large-scale financial embezzlement.
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Alleged Irregularities in Costs and Approvals
One of the biggest red flags was seen at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital, where the project cost increased from ₹488 crore to ₹1,135 crore, without corresponding work progress.
Investigators also found that in many cases, construction began without proper approvals, and the role of contractors appeared suspicious. In addition, the Hospital Information Management System (HIMS), which had been pending since 2016, was allegedly delayed deliberately. Based on the ACB’s FIR, the Enforcement Directorate registered its own case to examine suspected financial irregularities. The ED is now looking into how public funds were allegedly misused, and whether there was political or administrative collusion behind the scam.
#WATCH | Delhi | Visuals from AAP leader and former Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj’s residence in Chirag Delhi, where the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids.
ED is raiding AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj’s residence and 12 other locations in the hospital… pic.twitter.com/sRPscmudTp
— ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2025
AAP’s Response to the Raids
Reacting sharply, senior AAP leader and former Delhi CM Atishi accused the Centre of misusing central agencies to divert public attention. She linked the raids to the ongoing controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic degree.
“Why was there a raid at Saurabh ji’s place today? Because questions are being raised across the country about Modi ji’s degree is Modi ji’s degree fake? The raid was conducted to divert attention from this discussion,” Atishi tweeted.
She further argued that Bharadwaj was not even a minister at the time when the projects were sanctioned, calling the case baseless. She also recalled that another AAP leader, Satyendar Jain, had been jailed for three years, only for the CBI/ED to eventually file a closure report.“This clearly shows that all the cases against Aam Aadmi Party leaders are nothing but lies and politically motivated,” she added.
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In Mumbai, AAP MP Sanjay Singh reacted to the ED raids on party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, stating that the case registered against him was false and baseless. He pointed out that Bharadwaj was not even a minister during the period mentioned in the ED’s case. Singh alleged that it was the Modi government’s policy to file false cases against AAP leaders and send them to jail, adding that this was part of a larger attempt to harass and target party leaders one by one. He further claimed that the raids were intended to divert public attention from the controversy over the Prime Minister’s degree, which he described as fake, and said the ED’s action was carried out to stop discussion on the issue.
#WATCH | Mumbai, Maharashtra | On ED raids against AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP MP Sanjay Singh says, “… The case registered against Saurabh Bharadwaj is false and baseless. He was not even the minister in the time frame in which the ED had registered the case… It is a… pic.twitter.com/0agUFQBfUg
— ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2025
Reacting to the ED raids on AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the only reason behind the action was the revelation made a day earlier about the Prime Minister’s degree. He claimed that it had come to light that the Prime Minister’s degree was fake and that he had lied about it. Sisodia argued that the raid was conducted merely to divert public attention from the degree controversy. He further remarked that even a child would laugh at the justification for the raid, since the case being cited dated back to a period before Bharadwaj had become a minister.
#WATCH | On ED raids against AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, former Delhi Deputy CM and AAP leader Manish Sisodia says, “The only reason behind the ED raid at Saurabh Bharadwaj’s house is that yesterday a big revelation was made about the Prime Minister’s degree. It came to the… pic.twitter.com/6WJEXazX7c
— ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2025
