Satyendar Jain, a former Delhi minister and member of the Aam Aadmi Party, was granted bail by the Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday. This decision pertains to his involvement in the Delhi Jal Board sewage treatment plant tender case. The court set the bail amount at Rs 2 lakh, requiring Jain to submit two sureties of the same value. Meanwhile, other individuals implicated in the case will remain in judicial custody until September 17.
Jain was produced before Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh. The other accused appeared through video conferencing. The court also extended the judicial custody of the other accused until September 17. Their bail applications will be heard on September 5. The Anti-Corruption Branch arrested Jain on August 18 over alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board sewage treatment plant tender process.
ACB alleges money trail in DJB case
The accused in the case include former Delhi Jal Board CEO Udit Prakash Rai, Nagendra Yadav, Ankit Shrivastava, Pankaj Verma and Raja Kumar Kurra. The case relates to alleged irregularities in tenders for sewage treatment plant projects linked to the Delhi Jal Board. The ACB has alleged that the technical proposal for upgrading the Rohini sewage treatment plant was changed. The ACB has also alleged that the Rohini and Narela sewage treatment plants were added to the project, while the Okhla Phase V plant was removed. These allegations have not been proved in court. The ACB has alleged that Nagendra Yadav acted as an intermediary between Delhi Jal Board officials and representatives of Euroteck Environment. The agency claims that K.V.N.S. Rao of Euroteck gave a letter to Yadav. Yadav allegedly took the letter to the office of Satyendar Jain. The ACB further alleged that Jain asked contractual DJB consultant Ankit Shrivastava to coordinate with Rao about a meeting. The ACB has alleged that the tender documents did not include all eight water-quality parameters prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board. The agency has alleged that leaving out these parameters weakened environmental safeguards and could have benefited a technology provider. These claims are part of the investigation and will be tested during the court proceedings. Jain has denied having any role in the tender process. His counsel, Senior Advocate N. The defence argued that Jain could not influence the investigation or interfere with the evidence. The cost of the existing STP is half than the new one. Then, the augmentation of existing STPs. It was decided to increase the capacity of the existing STPs. I had no portfolio. Jain also questioned the ACB’s argument about the cost of the project. “If the tender was okay at Rs. Then it was okay for Rs. The ACB alleged that a two per cent commission arrangement was discussed during the process. The ACB claimed that Ankit Shrivastava sent a corrigendum to the company’s owner even though he had no official role in the tender process. The agency also alleged that the corrigendum was uploaded on the Delhi Jal Board website but was not published in newspapers. The alleged money transfers are part of the ACB’s investigation. The claims will be examined during the legal proceedings.
The ACB further alleged that sludge-treatment work was separated from the main sewage treatment project so that it could be offered through a separate tender. The proposed capacity was first increased from 15 million gallons per day to 25 million gallons per day. The agency claims the capacity was later increased to 30 million gallons per day without a technical recommendation or feasibility study. These changes led to an estimated increase in project cost of about Rs 123 crore, according to the agency. Hariharan, argued that the tenders were floated in October 2022, when Jain was already in custody in another case. I was minister for 8 Ministeries. ‘I was bound to accept the technical advice.’” Jain said the tender amount was around Rs 1,546 crore when the tenders were floated. “I was removed on May 30. Work was awarded 6 months after my exit,” he said. 1938 crore. 1546 crore,” he said. The agency referred to meetings held on December 22 and 23, 2022. The agency claimed that Rs 2.7 crore was transferred from Euroteck to Srijanhar without any work being carried out. It further alleged that Rs 1.22 crore from this amount was transferred to another company.
Investigators said they recovered a screenshot of a conversation between Rao and Shrivastava from Rao’s mobile phone. Only five parameters were included, according to the agency. It said pH, Chemical Oxygen Demand and Total Nitrogen were left out of the tender documents. His lawyers told the court that there was no evidence to justify his arrest. They also said investigators had already collected the relevant evidence and that Jain had cooperated with the investigation. Jain told the court, “The government had decided to clean the River Yamuna. He also said that he had left office before the work was awarded. The ACB told the court that the tender process involved several alleged irregularities. The agency also said three companies were considered during the investigation. Only Euroteck was found to be manufacturing the equipment required for the project, according to the ACB.
