New Delhi: Hunted since February by Rajasthan’s Anti-Corruption Bureau in connection with the Rs 960-crore Jal Jeevan Scam, retired IAS officer Subodh Agarwal was arrested from New Delhi Thursday, officials from the ACB’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) confirmed.
Agarwal, who had retired at the rank of Additional Chief Secretary, has been detained and further investigation is underway, according to an ACB statement.
Officials said the investigation revealed that the firm M/s Shri Ganpati Tubewell Company, Proprietor Mahesh Mittal and the firm M/s Shri Shyam Tubewell Company, and Proprietor Padmachand Jain prepared fake certificates of IRCON International Ltd in connivance with the high-level officials of the Public Health Engineering Department, and used them for various tenders in Rajasthan.
“It was revealed that corruption of crores of rupees was done by getting tenders of about Rs 960 crore by submitting fake completion certificates. Apart from this, with criminal intentions, Subodh Agarwal, the then Additional Chief Secretary, PHED and other high level officers, by including the requirement of site visit certificate in the tenders of major projects (above Rs 50 crore) against the rules and by revealing the identity of the bidders and by pulling the tenders, received unexpected high tender premiums of 30 to 40 percent, which were approved by the PHED officers and it has been proved that there was misuse of position on a large scale. The total amount of these tenders is about Rs 20,000 crore,” read ACB’s statement.
Earlier around 17 February, the ACB had begun investigating the matter and had reached the residence of Agarwal, where he was not available. After 9 pm, officials said, his phone remained switched off.
The ACB had deployed multiple teams to Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Officers told ThePrint that the ACB has searched over 100 locations in Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Barmer, Kota, Nagaur, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Faridabad, Noida, Meerut, Prayagraj, Bulandshahr and Mumbai. Residences, properties and farmhouses in NCR’s Delhi, Faridabad, Noida along with Mumbai have been specifically searched, they said.
Over 50 friends, relatives, workers and associates were questioned and CCTV analysed by ACB. A lookout notice was also issued in February.
Also Read: 100 sites, 21 cities across states—Search on for retd IAS wanted in Rs 960 cr Jal Jeevan fraud case
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The Jal Jeevan Mission is a Central scheme that aims to provide safe drinking water to households. In Rajasthan, it is implemented by the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED).
A 1988-batch IAS officer, Agarwal retired on December 31, 2025, days after the BJP-led state government sanctioned his prosecution in the case. Agarwal had served as additional chief secretary, PHED.
The alleged fraud came to light in June 2023, with ACB initially registering the case. ACB said that the 10 accused in the case include Dinesh Goyal, currently Chief Engineer (Administration), K.D. Gupta, currently Chief Engineer (Rural), Subhanshu Dixit, then Secretary, Rajasthan Water Supply & Sewerage Management Board, currently Additional Chief Engineer, Jaipur Zone-II, Sushil Sharma, currently Financial Advisor (Renewable Energy), Niril Kumar, currently Chief Engineer Churu.
Vishal Saxena, Executive Engineer, currently suspended, Arun Srivastava, Additional Chief Engineer, currently retired, D.K. Gaud, then Chief Engineer and Technical Member, currently retired, Mahendra Prakash Soni, then Superintending Engineer, currently retired and Mukesh Pathak, a private person, were arrested earlier.
Permanent warrants for arrest have been issued against three absconding accused, namely Mukesh Goyal, the then Superintending Engineer, Jitendra Sharma, the then Executive Engineer and Sanjeev Gupta, a private person, and action is being taken to declare them proclaimed offenders and confiscate their property, the ACB said.
The High Court has granted relief from arrest to five other accused in the case.
On 19 February 19, Agarwal took to Rajasthan High Court seeking to quash the FIR he has been named in. Agarwal, through his counsel, alleged “selective targeting”. His primary argument was that as the additional chief secretary, he acted in “good faith”, reviewing financial bids only after they were technically cleared by the Bid Evaluation Committee. Agarwal contended that he was legally entitled to rely on the “positive verification” provided by senior engineers who physically inspected the Ircon certificates.
To distance himself from the criminal conspiracy, Agarwal highlighted his own corrective actions, noting the ultimate blacklisting of the firms, stoppage of all payments, and suspension of the tainted executive engineer once forgery was confirmed in August 2023. “It is pertinent to mention here that more than 95 per cent of the work order given to the accused firms were approved by the Finance Committee headed by previous ACS, PHED, Sudhansh Pant, and not by the petitioner,” the counsel claimed in Agarwal’s petition.
“No payment towards work orders were approved during the tenure of the petitioner. Hence, there has been no loss to the public exchequer as a direct or indirect result of the conduct of the petitioner. Hence, the FIR is liable to be quashed on this ground alone,” it says.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
Also read: The making of Rs 960 crore Rajasthan Jal Jeevan Mission scam that triggered manhunt for ex-IAS