Jal Jeevan Mission scam: Former IAS Subodh Agarwal arrested; properties of accused to be attached
Jaipur: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), on Thursday, arrested former IAS officer Subodh Agarwal (Retired Rajasthan Additional Chief Secretary) in connection with a large-scale corruption case under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
In relation to a case, registered at the ACB headquarters, Agarwal was taken into custody in Delhi on Thursday and subsequently arrested.
Further investigation in the matter is ongoing.
The investigation has revealed that firms M/s Shri Ganpati Tubewell Company (Proprietor: Mahesh Mittal) and M/s Shri Shyam Tubewell Company (Proprietor: Padamchand Jain) secured government tenders by submitting forged work completion certificates purportedly issued by IRCON International Limited.
Acting in collusion with senior officials of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), these firms were awarded contracts worth around Rs 960 crore.
It has also been established that Subodh Agarwal, who was serving as Rajasthan Additional Chief Secretary (PHED) at the time, along with other senior officials, deliberately violated established norms.
They introduced the requirement of “Site Visit Certificates” for major tenders exceeding Rs 50 crore, which led to the disclosure of bidder identities and facilitated cartelisation (tender pooling).
This resulted in abnormally high premiums ranging between 30 and 40 per cent, which were subsequently approved by PHED officials, indicating a clear abuse of official position.
The total value of the tenders under scrutiny is estimated at nearly Rs 20,000 crore.
As of now, 10 accused persons have been arrested in the case, including Dinesh Goyal, Chief Engineer (Administration); K.D. Gupta, Chief Engineer (Rural); Subhanshu Dixit, the then former Secretary of the Rajasthan Water Supply and Sewerage Management Board and current Additional Chief Engineer/Secretary; Sushil Sharma, Chief Engineer (Jaipur Zone-II) and current Financial Advisor of Renewable Energy; Niril Kumar, Churu Chief Engineer; Vishal Saxena, Executive Engineer and currently under suspension, Arun Srivastava, retired Additional Chief Engineer, D.K. Gaur, the then Chief Engineer and Technical Member; Mahendra Prakash Soni, the then Superintending Engineer; and Mukesh Pathak (private individual).
The court has issued standing arrest warrants against three absconding accused namely Mukesh Goyal (then Superintending Engineer), Jitendra Sharma (then Executive Engineer) and Sanjeev Gupta (private individual).
Proceedings are underway to declare them proclaimed offenders and to attach their properties.
The Rajasthan High Court has granted interim protection from arrest to five other accused persons in the case.
Detailed questioning of Subodh Agarwal and further investigation are being carried out under the supervision of Rajasthan Additional Director General Smita Srivastava.
To ensure a comprehensive and expeditious probe, the SIT, constituted under the leadership of Deputy Inspector Generals of Police, Rameshwar Singh and Om Prakash Meena, have undertaken an in-depth examination of technical and documentary evidence.