Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Monday skipped an interrogation by the Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), citing a pre-planned engagement, sources said.

“Manish Sisodia had a pre-planned engagement and was not able to appear before the ACB. His lawyer has sent a reply to the ACB”, stated AAP sources.

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The anti-corruption sources said that Sisodia’s lawyer informed the agency over his inability to appear. A fresh date will be issued for the former minister to appear before the ACB, it added.

The ACB had summoned AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and former PWD minister Satyendar Jain for questioning. Jain had appeared before the agency on Friday while Sisodia was supposed to appear on Monday.

Both of them were summoned after an FIR was registered on April 30, based on allegations of financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of over 12,000 classrooms or semi-permanent structures in Delhi government schools.

As per the FIR, Jain and Sisodia were booked under Section 13 (1) of the Prevention of Corruption (POC) Act after receiving complaints from Harish Khurana, Kapil Mishra, and Neelkanth Bakshi.

The complainants alleged that the construction of the 12,748 school classrooms was done at the cost of 2,892 crore, which comes to approximately Rs 24.86 lakh per classroom, whereas such rooms in Delhi could be constructed for Rs 5 lakh.

Moreover, it was alleged that the majority of the 34 contractors who were awarded the project were associated with the AAP.