The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday (9th April) arrested former IAS officer Subodh Agarwal, who was absconding in connection with the Jal Jeevan Mission scam in Rajasthan. Agarwal was detained in New Delhi and was later taken to Jaipur, where he was formally arrested and interrogated by Deputy Inspector General of Police Om Prakash Meena at the ACB headquarters. The JJM scam happened during the previous Congress government’s tenure in Rajasthan. The scam involved the forging of documents and fake emails for obtaining water supply tenders worth several crores.
Speaking to the media, ACB Director General Govind Gupta said that the investigation into the scam exposed a “tightly knit nexus” involving private firms and several PHED officials, who allegedly manipulated tenders and documents to secure large contracts. He said that private firms, including Ganpati Tubewell and Shyam Tubewell, forged certificates of Indian Railway Construction International Limited (IRCON) and the bid documents for securing contracts under the JJM in connivance with senior PHED officials in Rajasthan. The firms allegedly secured contracts worth ₹960 crore through fake documents.
Furthermore, Gupta said that Subodh Agarwal and other PHED officials included the requirement of a site visit certificate in the tenders of major projects (above Rs 50 crore), which was against the rules. He added that this led to the exposure of the identities of the bidders, which should have been kept confidential. According to Gupta, the site visit requirement corrupted the process, leading to unexpectedly high tender premiums by 30-40 per cent. The probe revealed forged billing, financial irregularities, and serious procedural violations in the tendering process. The PHED officials, including Agarwal, despite being aware of the discrepancies, failed to take action.
The investigation into the scam, estimated to be worth ₹20,000 crore, began in 2024. In December 2025, the Rajasthan government gave a nod for initiating a probe against Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) officials, including Agarwal, the then Additional Chief Secretary of the Department. Subsequently, an SIT was formed by the ACB to investigate the case. In February this year, the SIT searched for Agarwal, who was untraceable. Later on, the SIT issued a lookout circular against Agarwal to prevent him from leaving the country. In March, an arrest warrant was issued by a Jaipur court against Agarwal. 40 teams of ACB conducted raids at over 100 locations in 21 cities to trace Agarwal. They questioned over 50 people, Agarwal’s close relatives, friends, domestic worker, and driver, among others.
Ten accused in the case were previously arrested, including Dinesh Goyal, K D Gupta, Subhanshu Dixit, Sushil Sharma, Niril Kumar, Vishal Saxena, Arun Srivastava, D K Gaud, Mahendra Prakash Soni, and Mukesh Pathak, a private person. They are currently in judicial custody. Arrest warrants have been issued against three absconding accused, namely, Mukesh Goyal (then Superintending Engineer), Jitendra Sharma (then Executive Engineer), and Sanjeev Gupta (a private individual)
The JJM scheme was launched by the central government in 2019 to facilitate piped drinking water to every rural household by providing functional tap connections.
