Jaipur, July 2: A significant update has emerged in the alleged ₹20,000 crore Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scam in Rajasthan. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has filed a charge sheet against former Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister Mahesh Joshi and private individual Sanjay Badaya.
The ACB presented an extensive charge sheet of nearly 3,000 pages before Special ACB Judge Rajesh Kumar Dadiya. Public Prosecutor Manjula Jain, representing the state government, informed the court that the investigation is still ongoing and not yet complete.
This is not the first charge sheet in this case. Previously, the ACB had filed a charge sheet against former Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Subodh Agarwal and ten other accused individuals. The agency is submitting charge sheets in a phased manner as the investigation progresses.
Currently, former Minister Mahesh Joshi, Sanjay Badaya, Dinesh Goyal, Krishnadeep Gupta, Shubanshu Dixit, Sushil Sharma, Vishal Saxena, DK Gaur, Mahendra Prakash Soni, Mukesh Pathak, and Niril Kumar are in judicial custody related to this case.
Accused Arun Srivastava has been granted bail by the Rajasthan High Court. Meanwhile, arrest warrants have been issued against Jitendra Sharma, Mukesh Goyal, and Sanjeev Gupta, and efforts to apprehend them are ongoing.
According to the ACB, investigations into alleged irregularities in the tender process, contract allocations, and financial transactions under the Jal Jeevan Mission are still underway. The agency has indicated that supplementary charge sheets may be filed as the investigation advances.
Notably, the Rajasthan High Court recently dismissed a habeas corpus petition filed by former Minister Mahesh Joshi’s son, Rohit Joshi, challenging the legality of his father’s arrest in the JJM scam. In dismissing the petition, the court made strong remarks against both the ACB and the special judge, highlighting serious procedural lapses and expressing concern over potential tampering with certain facts.
The bench, comprising Justices Umashankar Vyas and Ashok Kumar Jain, stated in their detailed order uploaded on Wednesday that the constitutional requirement to inform the reasons for arrest was not properly adhered to.
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