Jaipur: Rajasthan High Court Thursday rejected the bail pleas of former public health engineering department (PHED) minister Mahesh Chandra Joshi and former PHED additional chief secretary Subodh Agarwal in Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) case, observing that the allegations against them were of an “extremely serious nature.”Justice Chandra Prakash Shrimali also rejected the bail pleas of seven accused and an anticipatory bail plea filed by another accused in this case.The court’s observations were based on the material collected during investigation, including official records, communications, call transcripts, bank-account details and statements of witnesses. The court made it clear that its observations at the bail stage would not affect the trial on merits.On Agarwal, the court noted, “He was holding a senior position in PHED and was also chairman of the finance committee. As a senior IAS officer holding an important post, it was his legal responsibility to ensure that the tender process remained transparent and impartial and that neither the govt nor the public suffered financial loss.”The court also took note of communications from Ircon International Ltd dated March 22, April 6 and June 7, 2023, informing the department that experience certificates submitted by certain tenders were “allegedly forged and had not been issued by the company”.The court recorded an alleged payment of Rs 74.83 lakh in one tender even after the issue of the certificates had been raised.Regarding Joshi, the court noted allegations that, while serving as PHED minister, he used his position and influence in the tender process.The prosecution alleged that he acted in concert with contractors and middleman Sanjay Badaya and that firms were allowed to participate in tenders despite the alleged use of forged Ircon certificates.The court noted the allegation that Rs 50 lakh was routed through accounts of persons known to Joshi to a firm associated with his son, and that the investigation had collected bank records and witness statements in this regard.The court also rejected the bail applications of former chief engineer, Jal Jeevan Mission, Jaipur, Dalip Kumar Gaur, former chief engineer (Urban & NRW), holding additional charge, and chief engineer (Quality Control), PHED, Jaipur, Krishan Deep Gupta, former superintending engineer, PHED, Deedwana, M P Soni and others including Mukesh Pathka and Sanjeev Kumar Gupta.The court directed that the remaining investigation, if any, be completed expeditiously and asked the trial court to take effective steps for speedy recording of evidence and disposal of the case, keeping in view the accused’s right to a speedy trial.
