New Delhi
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a statement on Saturday claimed several middlemen and property dealers aided Rajasthan government’s PHE department officials to siphon off illegally earned money from the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme.
The federal agency had conducted fresh searches in this case on Friday at 26 locations in the poll-bound state. The first round of raids were undertaken in September.
Locations in Jaipur and Dausa, including residential and official premises of senior Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) officials, IAS officer and Additional Chief Secretary Subodh Agarwal, apart from private individuals were covered during the fresh searches.
Unaccounted cash of Rs 48 lakh and bank deposits worth Rs 1.73 crore, incriminating documents including property documents, digital evidences, hard disks, mobiles etc have been frozen or seized during the searches, the ED said in a statement.
The probe found that contractors were involved in securing tenders pertaining to the Jal Jeevan Mission works, based on purported fake work completion certificates issued by the Indian Railway Construction International Limited (IRCON) and by bribing senior PHED officials, it alleged. Several middlemen and property dealers have aided the PHED officials in siphoning off the illegally earned money from the JJM scam, the ED said.
