Jaipur, February 17 The Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested nine people on Tuesday, including senior engineers and retired officials, in connection with an alleged multi-crore corruption case linked to the Jal Jeevan Mission in Rajasthan, officials said.
The ruling BJP in the state has alleged that funds provided by the Government of India were misappropriated when the Ashok Gehlot dispensation was in power, and that a detailed investigation is underway.
Based on an FIR lodged in the matter, nearly 18 teams of the bureau conducted raids across Jaipur, Barmer, Udaipur, Karauli, Delhi, and other locations and arrested the accused, an official statement said.
The investigation revealed that two firms, M/s Shri Ganpati Tubewell Company, owned by Mahesh Mittal, and M/s Shri Shyam Tubewell Company, owned by Padamchand Jain, allegedly secured tenders worth around Rs 960 crore by submitting forged completion certificates, it said.
The certificates were purportedly issued by the Indian Railway Construction Company Limited, in alleged collusion with senior Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) officials, the statement added.
The investigation further revealed that senior PHED officials allegedly incorporated mandatory site-visit certification clauses in major projects above Rs 50 crore, contrary to norms, thereby disclosing bidder identities and facilitating alleged tender pooling, the bureau said.
According to the ACB, this led to unusually high tender premiums, which were approved, leading to large-scale financial irregularities.
A special investigation team was constituted to investigate the matter, which conducted detailed technical and documentary analysis before carrying out the arrests.
Those arrested include the current Chief Engineer (Administration), Dinesh Goyal, Chief Engineer (Rural), K D Gupta, then secretary of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation, Subhanshu Dixit, and Financial Advisor for Renewable Energy, Sushil Sharma, the statement said.
Additionally, Churu Chief Engineer Niril Kumar, suspended executive engineer Vishal Saxena, retired additional chief engineer Arun Srivastava, retired chief engineer and technical member D K Gaur, and retired superintending engineer Mahendra Prakash Soni, were arrested in the case, it added.
Earlier in another case of alleged corruption in the Jal Jeevan Mission, the bureau had filed a chargesheet against 11 people and two firms after a trap operation, it said.
Further interrogation of the accused and investigation are underway, the bureau said.
Minister of State for Home Jawahar Singh Bedham alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission when the Congress government was in power. He said strict action is being taken against those found guilty.
"The Jal Jeevan Mission is an ambitious scheme aimed at quenching the thirst of Rajasthan's people. It was launched with the support of the Government of India to ensure that clean drinking water reaches every household," he said.
He alleged that the mission suffered serious damage during the tenure of former chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
"Unfortunately, during the previous government's term, there was a nexus between certain officials and some political leaders, and the funds provided by the Government of India were misused," he said.
Bedham said investigation agencies are currently taking action in the matter. "Former PHED minister has already gone to jail. Action has been decided against several officials, and a detailed probe is underway," he added.
He said the present government is committed to taking strict action in all such cases.
"Whether it is the Jal Jeevan Mission case, the paper leak issue, the narcotics mafia or any other crime, no guilty person will be spared. Ensuring strict legal action and punishment for offenders is our priority," he said.
