A Delhi court has sent former minister Satyendar Jain and four others to judicial custody until September 3 in a corruption case involving the Delhi Jal Board. Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh ordered the judicial custody of Jain, former Delhi Jal Board CEO Udit Prakash Rai, and private persons Nagendra Yadav, Raja Kumar Kurra, and Pankaj Verma for 14 days.
The case pertains to a tender awarded to Ms Euroteck Environmental Private Limited when Jain was the Delhi water minister. According to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), there was manipulation of tender conditions to favour the company. The court noted that the tendering process was deliberately made technology-centric, and an initially planned pilot study was never conducted.
The ACB alleged that Jain and Rai rejected a proposal to relax Oxygen Transfer Efficiency to encourage competition, and a restrictive condition for the tender was removed through a corrigendum after most bidders had left the process. The court also noted that the mandatory National Green Tribunal and Central Pollution Control Board water quality standards were diluted, resulting in a cost escalation of around Rs 123 crore.
Jain allegedly arbitrarily increased the capacity of the Rohini Sewage Treatment Plan (STP) without a technical feasibility study. The court also noted the ACB allegation of a money trail where commissions were routed through intermediaries to the bank accounts of various accused persons.
The case was registered following a Directorate of Vigilance reference on May 10, 2024, regarding large-scale corruption in the Delhi Jal Board’s award of contracts for augmentation and upgradation of 10 STPs. Jain’s defence argued that he was not a subject-matter expert and relied on technical recommendations made by DJB officers.
The court dismissed the defence argument that the reasons for arrest were only mentioned towards the end of the document and allowed the ACB’s plea for 14-day judicial custody of the five accused. However, the court also issued a notice to the ACB on the bail plea of the accused persons.
Ankit Srivastava, a former contractual consultant with the DJB, was sent to two-day police custody for custodial interrogation, which the court deemed justified and necessary for a fair investigation.
