Jal Jeevan Mission scam: ACB arrests retired IAS Subodh Agrawal in tender fraud case

Jaipur: The Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday arrested retired IAS officer and former Additional Chief Secretary Subodh Agrawal from Delhi in connection with the multi-crore Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scam, officials said.

Agrawal has been named as an accused in ACB case number 245/2024, registered over alleged large-scale corruption in the JJM works of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED). He was taken into custody in Delhi and further investigation is underway, the bureau said.

According to the ACB, investigation in case number 245/2024 revealed that firms M/s Shri Ganpati Tubewell Company, proprietor Mahesh Mittal, and M/s Shri Shyam Tubewell Company, proprietor Padamchand Jain, prepared forged completion certificates in the name of IRCON International Ltd and, in collusion with senior PHED officials, used them to secure various tenders issued in Rajasthan in the names of the two firms. The two firms are alleged to have obtained tenders worth about Rs 960 crore on the strength of these fake work-completion certificates.

The ACB further alleged that Agrawal, while serving as Additional Chief Secretary, PHED, along with other senior officials, with criminal intent incorporated a site-visit certificate condition in major project tenders above Rs 50 crore in violation of the rules. This clause, according to the ACB, effectively exposed the identity of bidders and enabled tender pooling, resulting in unusually high tender premiums of 30 to 40 per cent, which were then approved by PHED officials. The bureau said the total value of these tenders is approximately Rs 20,000 crore and that the conduct amounts to widespread misuse of position.

Ten accused have already been arrested in the case. They include Dinesh Goyal, currently Chief Engineer (Administration); K.D. Gupta, currently Chief Engineer (Rural); Subhanshu Dixit, then Secretary RWSSSMCH and currently Additional Chief Engineer, Jaipur Zone-II; Sushil Sharma, currently Financial Advisor, Akshay Urja; Niril Kumar, currently Chief Engineer, Churu; Vishal Saxena, Executive Engineer, currently under suspension; Arun Srivastava, Additional Chief Engineer, since retired; D.K. Gaud, then Chief Engineer and technical member, since retired; Mahendra Prakash Soni, then Superintending Engineer, since retired; and Mukesh Pathak, a private individual.

Three other accused — Mukesh Goyal, then Superintending Engineer; Jitendra Sharma, then Executive Engineer; and Sanjeev Gupta, a private individual — are absconding. Permanent warrants of arrest have been issued against them by the court, and proceedings are underway to have them declared proclaimed offenders and to attach their properties, the ACB said. Five other accused in the case have been granted relief from arrest by the Rajasthan High Court.

The detailed questioning of the arrested officer and further action are being carried out under the supervision of Additional Director General Smita Srivastava. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted for the case, functioning under the direction of Deputy Inspector General of Police Dr Rameshwar Singh and Deputy Inspector General of Police Omprakash Meena, has conducted a detailed analysis of the technical and documentary evidence, the bureau added.