Jal Jeewan Mission case: ED seizes gold bar, cash over 2-cr, incriminating materials from Rajasthan

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said it has seized unaccounted cash of Rs 2.32 crore, 1 kg Gold bar worth Rs 64 lakh and various incriminating materials during searches at various locations in Rajasthan in connection with irregularities in the centre's Jal Jeewan Mission scheme.

The seized incriminating materials include digital evidence, hard disks and mobiles, said an ED statement, adding "The seized documents reveal large-scale transactions done by individuals in connivance with the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) Officials in Rajasthan".
The seizures were made following ED search operations conducted on September 1 at various locations in Rajasthan's Jaipur, Alwar, Neemrana, Behror and Shahpura under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in the case of Jal Jeewan Mission.

ED initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Rajasthan wherein Padamchand Jain (proprietor of Shree Shyam Tubewell Company), Mahesh Mittal (proprietor Shree Ganpati Tubewell Company) and others were involved in giving bribe to public servants in order to obtain illegal protection, obtaining tenders, getting bills sanctioned and covering up irregularities in respect of work executed by them in respect of various tenders received by them from PHED.

"The suspects were also involved in the purchase of stolen goods from Haryana for using the same in their tenders and contracts and had also submitted fake work completion letters from IRCON to get PHED contracts," said the agency.
"During the search operations, unaccounted cash of Rs 2.32 Crore, 1 Kg Gold bar worth Rs 64 lakh and various incriminating documents including digital evidence, hard disks, mobiles etc. were seized which reveal large scale transactions done by these individuals in connivance with the PHED Officials."