The Enforcement Directorate Friday (November 3) raided 25 locations in Jaipur and Dausa in Rajasthan in connection with a money laundering case in the alleged Jal Jeevan Mission scam. The places included the office of Dr Mahesh Joshi, the Rajasthan government’s water supply minister and the home of Subodh Agarwal, the Additional Chief Secretary in the Public Health Engineering Department (PHE) department.
Other premises of some engineers, contractors, and former state government officials, who are suspected to have links in the case, were also raided by the federal agency.
The ED had conducted similar raids in multiple cities of Rajasthan in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the execution of the Centre’s Jal Jeevan Mission scheme in September as well and seized unaccounted cash of Rs 2.32 crore and a gold bar worth Rs 64 lakh.
The money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate stems from a Rajasthan anti-corruption bureau (ACB) FIR filed in August this year. This was based on a complaint lodged with the Rajasthan police by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena in June this year alleging a scam of Rs 20,000 crore in the implementation of the Central government’s ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ in the state. The BJP leader also alleged that tenders worth Rs 900 crore were issued to two firms based on fake experience certificates in 48 projects of the scheme.
Meanwhile, in its FIR, the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) stated that Padamchand Jain, the owner of Shree Shyam Tubewell Company, Mahesh Mittal, the owner of Shree Ganpati Tubewell Company, and other individuals were involved in “paying bribes” to public employees in order to secure illegal protection, procure contracts, get invoices approved, and conceal irregularities regarding the work they completed for various tenders they obtained from the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED)
“The suspects were also involved in the purchase of stolen goods from Haryana for using the same in their tenders/contracts and had also submitted fake work completion letters from IRCON to get PHED contracts,” the agency alleged.
Unaccounted cash of Rs 2.32 crore, a 1 kg gold bar worth Rs 64 lakh, “incriminating” documents including digital evidences, hard disks, mobiles etc. were seized which show “large-scale transactions done by these individuals in connivance with PHED officials.”
What is the Jal Jeevan Mission Scheme?
Under the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme, drinking water was to be provided in rural areas. In this, 50 per cent of the expense was to be borne by Rajasthan and 50 per cent expense was to be borne by the Central Government. Under this, the DI duct iron pipeline was to be laid, but with the connivance of water supply department officers and contractors, the HDPE pipeline was laid.
A scam worth crores of rupees has come to light in this work. The pipes that were stolen from Haryana were passed off as new and laid. Money was taken by claiming that the pipeline was new. Moreover, many kilometres of pipeline were not laid. In lieu of this, payment worth crores of rupees was taken.
Rajasthan Congress minister Mahesh Joshi’s son accused of rape and torture
Last year in May, a 23-year-old woman filed a rape complaint against Rohit Joshi, the son of Dr Mahesh Joshi, the Rajasthan government’s water supply minister. The young woman working for a Rajasthan-based news channel had filed a rape case with Delhi’s Sadar Bazar police station. A zero FIR had been filed in Sadar Bazar police station and forwarded to Sawai Madhopur.
The FIR stated that Rohit repeatedly threatened the victim in the name of his father. Rohit further stated that he has had contacts with miscreants and the mafia and that he is not frightened of the cops. He warned her about being treated like Bhanwari Devi. The woman claimed that the father-son duo posed a threat to her and her family’s lives, after which the Rajasthan High Court had granted police protection to the woman.
Despite the complaint, the son of the Rajasthan Congress leader was not arrested. In fact, within a month, a court in Delhi granted anticipatory bail to cabinet minister Mahesh Joshi’s son Rohit in a rape case filed against him by a 24-year-old woman.
