Education Minister Ashish Sood levelled serious allegations against senior leaders of the former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, accusing them of misusing public funds by purchasing high-end mobile phones that far exceeded their official entitlement limits.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Sood revealed that as per government norms set in 2013, the Chief Minister is entitled to a mobile phone worth Rs 50,000 and other ministers to phones priced up to Rs 45,000. However, during their tenure, several AAP ministers allegedly purchased premium smartphones costing far more, and then pressured government departments to approve the payments — often after the purchases were already made.

Citing detailed records, Sood said former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal purchased four expensive smartphones between 2015 and 2022 using public money. These included an iPhone 6s Plus (Rs 81,000) in 2015, an iPhone 7 Plus (Rs 69,000) in 2017, an iPhone 12 Pro Max (Rs 1,39,900) during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and an iPhone 13 Pro Max (Rs 1,63,900) in 2022 — each far above the Rs 50,000 limit.