Massive Scam of ₹145 Crores in Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana During COVID Period: Coaching Mafia and AAP Government Involved

New Delhi: 16 July 2025 – Delhi’s Home, Education, and Higher Education Minister, Ashish Sood, and SC/ST Welfare Minister, Ravinder Indraj Singh, addressed a joint press conference at the Delhi Secretariat on Wednesday. They accused the previous AAP-led government of a ₹145 crore scam during the COVID period under the “Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana”.
Ashish Sood revealed that the Chief Minister Smt. Rekha Gupta had recommended an investigation into the scam, following which the Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena directed the Anti-Corruption Branch to initiate a probe.
Sood stated that while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) flaunted pictures of Bharat Ratna Dr. B.R. Ambedkar for political mileage, it disrespected his ideals by corrupting a scheme launched in his name. The Jai Bhim scheme, intended to offer free coaching to SC/ST/OBC/EWS/Minority students for competitive exams like UPSC, SSC, DSSSB, NEET, and CLAT, was severely misused.

CM Rekha Gupta, through her social media post, said that the AAP government looted the future of Dalit children in the name of their welfare and misused Babasaheb Ambedkar’s name. She stated that the scheme was marred with fake applications, many without documentation or signatures, and some coaching institutes submitted 100% fake claims. The Anti-Corruption Branch will investigate these financial irregularities thoroughly, and the guilty will be brought to justice.
The Chief Minister emphasized that those who committed corruption in the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar would be made accountable for every penny. AAP has only used Dalits for political optics but failed miserably when it came to real empowerment.
Sood explained that the scheme, initiated in 2018, aimed to provide free coaching by transferring government funds directly to coaching institutions. He said that these “self-proclaimed unemployed leaders” of AAP have insulted Dr. Ambedkar’s legacy and turned a welfare scheme into a nexus of corruption.

He further detailed that in 2018, 4,900 students were supposed to receive coaching, and in 2019, the number was 2,071. However, during the COVID crisis, when the public was suffering financially, these leaders colluded with the coaching mafia to perpetrate a massive fraud.
Originally allocated a budget of ₹15 crores, the scheme saw a massive spike in billing, with coaching institutions submitting claims of ₹145 crores between July 2021 and August 2022. Shockingly, no due process was followed, and the AAP government subsequently asked these institutions to seek legal redress for payments.
Upon investigation, it was revealed that coaching institutions provided data for 13,000 students, but only 3,000 could be verified. The rest had no supporting documentation or register entries.

Sood added that the average coaching fee ranges from ₹1 lakh for IAS to ₹10,000 for interview courses. Even if all verified students had taken the most expensive course, the total cost wouldn’t exceed ₹30 crores—making the ₹145 crore claim completely unjustified.
The LG has directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau to investigate the entire scam.
Speaking at the press conference, SC/ST Welfare Minister Ravinder Indraj Singh said the scheme was intended to uplift Dalit students by providing access to higher education and career opportunities. Unfortunately, the previous government tainted this noble initiative with deep-rooted corruption. He also revealed that nearly 35 private coaching institutions are under scrutiny, many of which have failed to provide verifiable data even for 100 students.