Rajasthan High Court denies bail to former RWSSMB secretary in Jal Jeevan Mission scam case

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court has refused bail to Shubhanshu Dixit, the then Secretary of the Rajasthan Water Supply and Sewerage Management Board, in the Anti Corruption Bureau’s Jal Jeevan Mission scam FIR, holding that the department’s own cancellation of the tenders in August 2023 leaves no doubt that he was an active and responsible member of the Finance Committee in the entire decision-making process.

Justice Ravi Chirania noted that the petitioner, as de facto Secretary of the Finance Committee, participated in and approved tenders NIT No. 42 and 46 in meetings held on 02.05.2023 and 09.05.2023, despite serious complaints about the conduct of the two bidding firms having been received in February and March 2023.

Dismissing the application, the Court observed:

“The fact that the department itself cancelled the tenders in August, 2023, because of the serious corruption as noted in the entire tender process, leaves no doubt about the fact that the petitioner was an active and responsible member of the Committee in the entire decision making process.”

The petitioner, presently Additional Chief Engineer, Public Health and Engineering Department, was arrested by the ACB in FIR No. 245/2024 dated 30.10.2024, registered at Police Station Pradhan Arakshi Kendra, ACB, Jaipur, for offences under Sections 7(C), 9, 10, 13(1)(a) read with Sections 13(2) and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 and Sections 409, 466, 467, 468, 471, 477A and 120B IPC. His bail application was rejected by the trial court on 18.02.2026, and he has been in custody since 17.02.2026. The bail application before the High Court was filed under Section 483 BNSS, 2023.

Mr. Pankaj Gupta, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that out of approximately 104 tenders sanctioned by the PHED, complaints of corruption were received in respect of only 7, and that the petitioner, being merely the de facto Secretary of the Finance Committee headed by the Additional Chief Secretary, PHED, had no authority to take any final decision in approving tenders. He submitted that the complaints of Padam Singh and the legal notices of Advocate Mahesh Kalwania never reached the petitioner, and that the department had itself deputed its senior-most Executive Engineer, Mr. Vishal Saxena, to Kerala to verify the experience certificates of the two firms, who reported them to be legitimate.

Relying on T.T. Antony v State of Kerala, (2001) 6 SCC 181, counsel further contended that there cannot be multiple FIRs for the same incident, pointing to an FIR registered by the PHED itself in 2023 and another registered by the CBI in 2024. He also urged that the charge sheet running into almost 16,000 pages had been filed, no recovery or custodial interrogation was required, and the petitioner was over 58 years of age.

Opposing the application, Mr. Rajesh Choudhary, GA-cum-AAG, submitted that the allegation was that two firms, M/s Ganpati Tubewell Company and M/s Shyam Tubewell Company, procured tenders under the Jal Jeevan Mission by submitting fake experience certificates of PSU IRCON International Limited, and that the Finance Committee, of which the petitioner was an active and responsible member, processed the tenders despite advance complaints that later stood verified and led to cancellation of all the tenders. On the plea of multiple FIRs, he submitted that the petitioner is not an accused in the CBI’s FIR, and the departmental FIR stands merged with the ACB’s FIR No. 245/2024.

The Court noted that the charge sheet has been filed in respect of only 7 of the approximately 104 tenders and that allegations extend to multiple tenders. Considering the overall facts and circumstances, it declined to enlarge the petitioner on bail and dismissed the application. The order was pronounced on 01.06.2026.

Title: Shubhanshu Dixit v State of Rajasthan

Case No.: S.B. Criminal Miscellaneous Bail Application No. 3183/2026

Counsel for petitioner: Mr. Pankaj Gupta with Mr. Sandeep Khyaliya, Mr. Naman Yadav, Mr. Saurabh Yadav, Mr. Harshit Bhatt and Ms. Stuti Dave

Counsel for respondent: Mr. Rajesh Choudhary, GA-cum-AAG with Mr. Vinod Kumar Sharma, Mr. Vijay Yadav, AGA and Mr. Onkar Singh Rajpurohit, Dy. GA