Jal Jeevan Mission Scam: ED raids reveal massive cash and gold haul

ED has been conducting raids in multiple cities of Rajasthan. On Monday, the Enforcement Directorate said that unaccounted cash of Rs 2.32 crore, and a gold bar worth Rs 64 lakh were seized after searches in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the execution of the Centre’s Jal Jeevan Mission scheme.
According to the ED statement, on September 1, the raids were launched at various premises located in the state capital Jaipur, Alwar, Neemrana, Behror and Shahpura.
The money laundering case came after a Rajasthan anti-corruption bureau (ACB) FIR was filed, which claimed that Padamchand Jain, proprietor of Shree Shyam Tubewell Company, Mahesh Mittal, proprietor of Shree Ganpati Tubewell Company and others were involved in “giving bribes” to public servants in order to obtain illegal protection, getting bills sanctioned, obtaining tenders, and covering up irregularities in respect of work executed by them in respect of various tenders received by them from the public health and engineering department (PHED).
The agency claimed, “The suspects were also involved in the purchase of stolen goods from Haryana for using the same in their tenders/contracts and had also submitted fake work completion letters from IRCON to get PHED contracts.”
Unaccounted cash of Rs 2.32 crore, a 1 kg gold bar worth Rs 64 lakh, hard disks, “incriminating” documents, mobiles etc. were seized, which show “large-scale transactions done by these individuals in connivance with PHED officials.”
The Jal Jeevan mission is a campaign launched by the Centre Government which aims to provide safe and adequate drinking water through household tap connections, and it was being implemented by the state PHED in Rajasthan.