New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested a man named Piyush Jain in connection with its money laundering investigation linked to alleged irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Rajasthan, the agency said on Friday.
The ED further said that Piyush Jain was arrested on Thursday and a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Jaipur sent him to four days of ED custody.
This is the first arrest by the ED in this case.
The ED initiated its investigation following an FIR registered by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) where it was charged that Padamchand Jain (proprietor of Shree Shyam Tubewell Company), Mahesh Mittal (proprietor of Shree Ganpati Tubewell Company), Piyush Jain and others were "involved in giving bribes to public servants in order to obtain illegal protection, tenders, getting bills sanctioned and covering up irregularities for work executed by them in respect of various tenders received by them from the Public Health and Engineering Department (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, the federal agency added.
The agency further said that it investigation revealed that Padamchand Jain and Mahesh Mittal were involved in securing tenders pertaining to JJM works based on purported fake work completion certificates issued by IRCON and by bribing senior PHED officials.
"Several middle men and property dealers have aided the PHED officials in siphoning off the illegally earned money from the JJM scam," it added.
ED investigation further revealed that Piyush Jain was managing affairs of the accused firms and was also in receipt of an amount of Rs. 3.5 Crore (approx.) which were nothing but proceeds of crime.
"Further CDR analysis of his mobile revealed that was also influencing officials of PHED. In addition to the above, several summons were also issued to the accused in order to enquire about the beneficiary of proceeds of crime but he did not join the investigation," it said.
Earlier, ED had conducted searches at more than 70 premises leading to seizure of Rs. 11.03 Crore, including gold and silver worth Rs. 6.50 Crore, till date.
Further investigation is under progress.
