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New Delhi: The ED on Wednesday said “unaccounted” cash worth Rs 39 lakh has been seized after searches against former Rajasthan PHE department minister Mahesh Joshi and others as part of its money laundering probe related to alleged irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission.
On Tuesday, Searches were launched at eight locations in the state capital Jaipur and Banswara and apart from Joshi, officials from the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department and private individuals were also involved.
In a statement, the Enforcement Directorate said,”A total of Rs 39 lakh unaccounted cash along with various incriminating documents including property details, digital evidence, mobiles were seized.” It did not specify what amount was seized from whom.
The money laundering case stems from an FIR by the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau against Shree Shyam Tubewell Company owner Padmachand Jain, Shree Ganpati Tubewell Company owner Mahesh Mittal and others. The FIR alleged that the named people were involved in “bribing” public servants to obtain illegal protection, get tenders, get bills approved and conceal irregularities in the work done by them under various tenders received from the PHE department.
Jal Jeevan Mission launched by the Central Government aims to provide safe and adequate drinking water through household tap connections and is being implemented in Rajasthan by the state PHE department.The premises in Jaipur and Dausa, including the residential and official premises of senior officials of the PHE department and IAS officer and then Additional Chief Secretary Subodh Aggarwal were searched by the ED last year.
Earlier, The agency had claimed that several middlemen and property dealers had “assisted” officials of the state government’s PHE department to siphon off “illegally earned” funds from the Jal Jeevan Mission. Former Rajasthan chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot had alleged that central agencies were acting on the instructions of the BJP-led government at the Center to target opposition leaders and Congress-led state governments. In the 2023 assembly elections, BJP wrested Rajasthan from Congress.
