Rajasthan: ED searches premises linked to ex-Cong minister, others

JAIPUR: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday searched premises linked to former Rajasthan PHE department minister Mahesh Joshi and some others in a money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission, sources said.

Last year, ED conducted at least two rounds of raids in the case related to the Central government programme.

The locations linked to Joshi, a former minister of the public health engineering (PHE) department, and some others are being searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had last year raided premises in Jaipur and Dausa, including the residential and official premises of senior PHE department officials and IAS officer and the then additional chief secretary Subodh Agarwal, apart from some private persons.

The agency had earlier claimed that several middlemen and property dealers “aided” officials of the state government’s PHE department to siphon off “illegally earned” money from programme.

Probe found that contractors were involved in securing tenders pertaining to Jal Jeevan Mission works, based on purported “fake” work completion certificates issued by the Indian Railway Construction International Limited (IRCON) and by “bribing” senior PHE department officials, it had alleged.

Congress leader Ashok Gehlot had alleged that ED was acting on the directions of the BJP-led government at the Centre.