Hospital construction scam: ED raids former Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj’s residence

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday raided multiple locations, including the residence of former Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, as part of a money laundering probe into the alleged hospital construction scam in the national capital.

“We carried out a search operation at 13 locations in Delhi-NCR,” a senior ED official told The Tribune.

The searches were linked to an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) filed on the basis of an FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB).

The FIR names former health ministers of Delhi, private contractors and unidentified officials for their alleged role in irregularities.

According to investigators, the case involves large-scale corruption, unjustified cost escalations, unauthorised construction and misappropriation of funds in health infrastructure projects under the Government of the NCT of Delhi.

During the raids, the ED teams examined Bharadwaj’s premises along with those of private contractors to trace suspected diversion and laundering of public funds earmarked for hospital construction.

The case was initially triggered by a complaint from the then Leader of Opposition and present Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijendra Gupta, flagging grave irregularities in hospital projects under the AAP-led government.

It was alleged that between 2018 and 19, 24 hospital projects worth Rs 5,590 crore were sanctioned but remained largely incomplete, with sharp and unexplained cost escalations. Similarly, the Rs 1,125-crore ICU hospital project - covering seven pre-engineered facilities with 6,800 beds - remains only 50 per cent complete despite an expenditure of Rs 800 crore and an original six-month deadline nearly three years ago.