The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the home of a top IAS officer in poll-bound Rajasthan today in connection with a money laundering case in the alleged Jal Jeevan Mission scam.
The probe agency has raided over 25 locations in the state capital Jaipur and Dausa, including the home of Subodh Agarwal, the Additional Chief Secretary in the PHE department. ED officials are also investigating other health officials linked to the scam under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED had conducted similar raids in the state in September as well.
A Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) FIR alleges that Padamchand Jain, proprietor of Shree Shyam Tubewell Company, and Mahesh Mittal, proprietor of Shree Ganpati Tubewell Company, along with others, bribed public officials to obtain illegal protection, tenders, bill approvals, and cover up irregularities in their work on various PHED projects.
"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," the agency had alleged in a statement.
The Jal Jeevan Mission is a central government scheme to provide safe drinking water to households through tap connections. The Rajasthan state PHED is implementing the scheme in the state.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot hit back at both the Centre and the ED, accusing them of using the agency's raids across the country to intimidate opposition leaders and topple state governments. He likened the raids to a "locust swarm from Pakistan", devastating everything in their path.
Mr Gehlot's comments came after the ED summoned the sons of Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra over money laundering charges related to an alleged paper leak last year, on the same day that the agency searched Mr Dotasra's homes in Jaipur and Sikar.
Rajasthan will elect its 200-member assembly on November 25, and the votes will be counted on December 3, along with the votes from four other states: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, and Telangana.
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