JAIPUR: Ahead of elections in Rajasthan, the Enforcement Directorate once again took significant action on Friday by conducting raids on the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister Mahesh Joshi’s office in the alleged corruption in a drinking water project.
The ED also raided the premises of additional chief secretary and senior IAS officer Subodh Aggarwal who serves in the water supply department. He, too, was targeted as a part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged scam related to the Jal Jeevan Mission.Information has also surfaced about similar raids at the locations of other government officials.
The Jal Jeevan Mission scheme was meant to provide drinking water in rural areas and the costs were to be shared on a 50:50% by the state and the Central government. But in the purchase and laying of the pipelines for this scheme in Rajasthan, a huge scam is being alleged by the BJP.
BJP MP Kirori Lal Meena has alleged a scam of Rs 20,000 crore in the drinking water project and claimed Joshi was involved in it. Meena claimed contractors submitted false experience certificates and documents for tenders for the project. In September, Meena claimed to have provided ED documents to back his claims.
The searches on Friday are the latest in a series of such raids in poll-bound Rajasthan. According to sourc, the agency’s team arrived at ACS Subodh Aggarwal’s residence and other locations within the water supply department at 8 am on Friday. Simultaneously, another ED team conducted searches at the Secretariat, where they focused on Aggarwal’s office as well as that of PHED Minister Mahesh Joshi.
About two months ago, the ED conducted raids at various places in Jaipur, leading to the discovery of Rs 2.5 crore in cash and gold bricks. The ED also recovered numerous documents from the residences of businessmen Sanjay Badaya and Kalyan Singh Kavia, allegedly revealing the involvement of senior IAS officer Aggarwal, who serves as the ACS of the Water Department.
Gold seizure & ‘collusion’
About two months ago, the ED conducted raids at various places in Jaipur, leading to the discovery of Rs 2.5 crore in cash and gold bricks. It also recovered documents, allegedly revealing the involvement of senior IAS.