Jaipur: Supreme Court Friday granted bail to former Rajasthan public health engineering department (PHED) minister Mahesh Joshi in a corruption case linked to alleged irregularities worth over Rs 979 crore in tenders floated under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), holding that the gravity of allegations alone cannot justify indefinite pre-trial detention.The court also granted bail to PHED official Mukesh Pathak, a co-accused in the case.A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu set aside Rajasthan High Court’s Aug 2026 order rejecting their bail applications, observing that the allegations of large-scale financial impropriety and institutional collusion in a public welfare project were grave and warranted serious scrutiny. At the same time, however, the bench held that the seriousness of charges cannot justify keeping accused persons in custody indefinitely.The case stems from an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) FIR registered on Oct 30, 2024, which alleged that two private firms secured contracts by using forged work completion certificates and letters of acceptance. According to the prosecution, the firms participated in 237 tenders between 2021 and 2023 and secured work orders in 104 tenders, worth a combined Rs 979.4 crore.Appearing for Joshi, senior advocate Sidharth Luthra argued that the former minister had already spent around five months in custody, with no foreseeable commencement of the trial. The defence further contended that the allegation of Joshi accepting a bribe was not supported by corroborative material on record.Joshi was arrested by ACB on May 7 from his Jaipur residence. He approached Rajasthan High Court for relief, but it rejected his bail plea in Aug.The ex-minister had earlier secured bail from Supreme Court in Dec 2025 in a separate money-laundering case linked to the JJM matter being investigated by Enforcement Directorate (ED).He got bail after serving seven months in jail in that case, and was arrested by ACB following his release.ED PMLA case
