In a dramatic show in the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday (March 25), PWD Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh unspooled a long roll of white paper across the House – a list, apparently, of all the alleged irregularities and corruption in the renovation and construction of what was then the official bungalow of former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
He also claimed that alongside the main residence, a second “Sheesh Mahal” was also under construction, as the BJP raised the issue during a discussion on the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India that were tabled by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta in the Assembly on Monday.
AAP members were not present in the House – the Opposition party has been boycotting the budget session following the suspension of four AAP MLAs from the Assembly in January.
In the roll of paper unfurled by the Minister was a list of alleged spending, item by item, on the construction of the bungalow – expenses on the kitchen, the allegedly lavish décor, the spa, wellness facilities, gym, jacuzzi, etc. The Minister circulated the list among members, as he underlined the alleged financial irregularities and public money spent on these additions.
Kejriwal’s bungalow in Civil Lines, described by the BJP as “Sheesh Mahal”, was a top campaign issue during the Assembly election of 2025.
“We have all heard about the Sheesh Mahal many times,” Singh said in the Assembly. “We remember that when the head of the AAP government, Arvind Kejriwal, became the Chief Minister of Delhi, he had taken an oath that he would not take any government car, government house, or government bungalow, nor any security. But within 20 days of taking oath, he deceived the people of Delhi. Within 20 days, on March 4, 2015, he allotted to himself the bungalow at 6 Flagstaff Road.”
In 2020, as Delhi grappled with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chief Minister was busy constructing the “Sheesh Mahal”, Singh alleged. He referred to the character of Rehman Dakait in the film Dhurandhar, and described Kejriwal as the “dacoit of Delhi, who looted the people of Delhi”.
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However, Singh said, “Our voters defeated such dacoits a year ago because they understood the truth… For 11 years they (the AAP) lied to the people, and as a result whatever Arvind Kejriwal says now, not just the people of Delhi but people across the country assume that he must be lying.”
The construction of the so-called Sheesh Mahal was a reflection of the hubris of the AAP government, Singh alleged. “The Sheesh Mahal was built with the belief that he (Kejriwal) would never be defeated in an election. At the chosen location, there were three Type-5 heritage bungalows, many trees, six garages, and 10 Type-1 and Type-2 quarters. Without permission, all the trees were cut and all the houses were demolished, after which the story of building the Sheesh Mahal began,” he said.
He displayed a photograph of the bungalow in the Assembly which, he said, showed how the area looked earlier.
“Not a single permission was taken to cut the trees. And after construction, you can see the empty space, all trees were removed, all houses demolished, officers and secretaries vacated, garages and servant quarters destroyed,” Singh said.
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According to the Minister, Kejriwal’s government was also building a second Sheesh Mahal nearby. “There was another 4,000-square-yard area where another equally large structure was being constructed. About Rs 25 crore had already been spent on it, but it could not be finished because the government changed. Otherwise, another Rs 60 crore would have been spent. So there is not one, but two Sheesh Mahals,” Singh claimed.
“What is shocking is that this construction was ordered during Covid. No orders were given to build Covid hospitals, but orders were given to build the Chief Minister’s house, and the file was marked most urgent,” the Minister alleged.
“If the Rs 58 crore [allegedly spent on the Sheesh Mahal] had been spent on ICU ventilators instead, around 2,300 ICU beds could have been created at Rs 15,000 per bed, saving thousands of lives. About 26,000 people died in Delhi during Covid,” Singh said.
According to the Minister, the initial sanction for the new construction came on September 1, 2020. A sum of Rs 7.91 crore was sanctioned, and it was allegedly deliberately kept under Rs 8 crore so it could be approved at the level of the Chief Engineer. “Then the cost kept rising – Rs 1.5 crore was added, then Rs 9 crore, then Rs 6 crore…all of this while thousands were dying,” Singh said.
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The Minister listed the items allegedly put in the “Sheesh Mahal” – furniture, sofas, tables, beds, wardrobes, chairs, recliners, bookshelves, carpets, consoles, curtains worth Rs 1.5 crore, blinds, vases, jacuzzi, dining tables for 28 people, gym equipment including a Rs-14-lakh treadmill, chandeliers worth Rs 1.5 crore, gold-plated lights, TVs worth crores, Bose speakers worth Rs 40 lakh, 50 AC units, expensive kitchen appliances, and toilet seats worth Rs 5 lakh.
“This is all mentioned in the CAG report. The list is endless,” he said.
The CAG report has said that the tenders were designed in such a way that only selected contractors would qualify. Consultants were appointed separately for designer and antique items.
“If this house was meant for the Chief Minister, then why was it not allowed to be used by others who later became Chief Minister? Because it was treated like a personal palace,” the Minister said.
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“All approvals from estimates to engineering signatures were completed in a single day. During Covid, files for hospitals moved slowly, but this file was cleared within 24 hours, he claimed.
According to the CAG report, Kejriwal’s former official residence at 6 Flagstaff Road was completed at a cost of Rs 33.66 crore, about 342 per cent higher than the estimated cost.
The size of the built-up area was increased from 1,397 sq m to 1,905 sq m, an increase of 36 per cent, and the preliminary estimates were revised four times to accommodate the increased cost, says the report.
