North India Statesman
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News India Live, Digital Desk: The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has got a big success in the much talked about Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scam of Rajasthan. Retired IAS officer Dr. Subodh Aggarwal, who is considered the mastermind of this mega scam of about Rs 20,000 crore, has been arrested from Delhi. Dr. Aggarwal, who was dodging the police and investigative agencies of five states for the last 50 days, was detained by the ACB team from a hideout in New Delhi and brought to Jaipur on Friday.
Hide-and-seek going on in 5 states: After lookout notice, arrests were made
In search of Dr. Subodh Aggarwal, ACB had raided more than 100 locations in 21 cities of Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh. When their hideouts were raided for the first time on 17 February, they managed to escape. After this, a lookout circular and then an arrest warrant was issued against him from the court. Eventually, based on technical surveillance and intelligence inputs, the ACB nabbed him near New Moti Bagh area of Delhi.
Abuse of position and game of fake tender worth Rs 960 crore
Investigation has revealed that while being the Additional Chief Secretary of PHED, Dr. Subodh Aggarwal had ignored the rules to provide undue benefits to certain firms. It is alleged that companies like ‘Shri Ganpati Tubewell’ and ‘Shri Shyam Tubewell’ obtained tenders worth crores on the basis of fake work completion certificates. The authorities deliberately added conditions that encouraged tender pooling (cartelisation) and increased the cost of projects by 30 to 40 per cent, which directly burdened the public’s hard-earned money.
Big action by ACB: 11 arrested so far, 3 still absconding
ACB Director General Govind Gupta told in the press conference that till now a total of 11 accused including Subodh Aggarwal have been arrested in this case. However, the three other main accused Mukesh Goyal (SE), Jitendra Sharma (XEN) and Sanjeev Gupta are still out of the reach of the law. The court has also issued a ‘standing warrant’ against them. Now ACB has started preparations to confiscate the properties of these fugitive accused and auction their vehicles.
Wires were spread from Delhi’s farmhouse to Noida
During his absconding, Dr. Aggarwal had also made Defense Colony in Delhi and a luxurious farmhouse in Sohna, Haryana his hideout. The investigating agencies are now investigating which influential people helped them in giving them shelter and protecting them from the law for 50 days. There is a possibility of the mask being removed from the faces of many big leaders and departmental officials during the interrogation in Jaipur.
