THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
Jaipur, Jan 16: As part of its money laundering probe into the execution of the Center’s ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched more than six places in Rajasthan on Tuesday, sources stated.
In accordance with the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the raids have been in progress since the morning. According to the sources, former Minister Mahesh Joshi’s premises was among the locations searched.
About two and a half months after conducting raids on 25 sites in Rajasthan, including the homes of a senior IAS officer, a few engineers, contractors, and former state government employees thought to have connections to the case, the ED has taken new action in the case.
The agency initiated the raids in November of the previous year, targeting locations in Jaipur and Dausa city in the state of Rajasthan.
Similar raids had been conducted on September 1 in this instance by the investigating agency at numerous cities in Rajasthan.
What is the case?
The Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering investigation stems from an initial First Information Report filed by the Rajasthan Police. In June, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena claimed a scam amounting to Rs 20,000 crore in the execution of the Central government’s ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ in Rajasthan.
He claimed that contracts totalling Rs 900 crore were awarded to two companies in 48 projects of the scheme based on fraudulent experience certificates.
The Rajasthan anti-corruption bureau (ACB) filed a formal complaint (FIR) alleging that Padamchand Jain, the owner of Shree Shyam Tubewell Company, Mahesh Mittal, the owner of Shree Ganpati Tubewell Company, and others were involved in “giving bribes” to public servants in order to obtain illegal protection, obtain tenders, get bills sanctioned, and conceal irregularities regarding work they completed for various tenders they received from the PHED (Public Health Engineering Department). These allegations form the basis of the money laundering case.
“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 ED had alleged in an earlier statement.
Aiming to supply households with sufficient and clean drinking water through tap connections, the Center established the Jal Jeevan mission. In Rajasthan, the state PHED was in charge of executing the plan.
