Rajasthan ACB files 3,000-page chargesheet in Rs 20,000 crore JJM scam

Jaipur, July 1 (IANS) In a major development in the alleged Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scam worth Rs 20,000 crore in Rajasthan, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has filed a chargesheet against former Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister Mahesh Joshi and private individual Sanjay Badaya.

The ACB submitted a chargesheet of nearly 3,000 pages before the court of Special ACB Judge Rajesh Kumar Dadiya.

Public Prosecutor Manjula Jain, appearing for the state government, informed the court that the investigation is still in progress and has not yet been completed.

This is not the first chargesheet in the case. Earlier, the ACB had filed a chargesheet against 10 other accused, including former Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Subodh Agrawal.

The agency has been filing chargesheets in phases as the investigation progresses.

Former Minister Mahesh Joshi, Sanjay Badaya, Dinesh Goyal, Krishnadeep Gupta, Shubhanshu Dixit, Sushil Sharma, Vishal Saxena, D.K. Gaur, Mahendra Prakash Soni, Mukesh Pathak and Niril Kumar are currently lodged in judicial custody in connection with the case.

Accused Arun Srivastava has been granted bail by the Rajasthan High Court.

Meanwhile, standing arrest warrants have been issued against Jitendra Sharma, Mukesh Goyal and Sanjeev Gupta, and efforts are underway to apprehend them.

According to the ACB, the investigation into the alleged irregularities in the tender process, contract awards and financial transactions under the Jal Jeevan Mission is continuing.

The agency has indicated that supplementary chargesheets may be filed as the probe progresses.

Notably, the Rajasthan High Court recently dismissed a habeas corpus petition filed by Rohit Joshi, son of former Minister Mahesh Joshi, challenging the legality of his father’s arrest in the JJM scam. While rejecting the plea, the court made strong observations against both the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the Special Judge, noting serious procedural lapses and expressing concern that certain facts appeared to have been manipulated.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Umashankar Vyas and Justice Ashok Kumar Jain, in its detailed order uploaded on Wednesday, observed that the constitutional requirement of communicating the grounds of arrest had not been properly followed.

The Bench, however, held that as Mahesh Joshi was in judicial custody pursuant to court orders, the legality of his arrest could not be examined through a habeas corpus petition, in line with Supreme Court precedents. The petition was accordingly dismissed, while leaving open the option of challenging the Special Judge’s order through appropriate legal remedies.

The court underscored that informing an accused of the grounds of arrest in writing is a constitutional mandate. It found that the ACB had failed to place any document on record showing that Mahesh Joshi had been informed of the actual grounds of his arrest.

–IANS

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