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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has lodged its first chargesheet in connection with a money-laundering investigation linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), as per official sources on Saturday.

 

The federal agency submitted the prosecution complaint before a specialised Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi on March 28, according to sources briefed by PTI.

 

Four individuals and a company have been indicted in the chargesheet -- former DJB chief engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora, contractor Anil Kumar Agarwal, former NBCC general manager D K Mittal, one Tejinder Singh, and NKG Infrastructure Limited.

 

The ED alleges that proceeds from corruption in a DJB contract were transferred as election funds to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. The agency had summoned Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in the matter, but he did not appear.

 

The ED apprehended Kejriwal on March 21 in a separate money-laundering case linked to purported irregularities in the capital's excise policy.

 

As part of the investigation, the agency had conducted raids at the premises of Kejriwal's personal assistant Bibhav Kumar, AAP's Rajya Sabha MP and treasurer N D Gupta, former DJB member Shalabh Kumar, chartered accountant Pankaj Mangal, and others in February.

 

The basis of the ED case is an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), accusing Arora of awarding a DJB contract to NKG Infrastructure Limited for a total value of Rs 38 crore despite the company allegedly not meeting the technical eligibility criteria.

 

The ED detained Arora and Agarwal on January 31 in connection with the case.

 

The agency claims that NKG Infrastructure Limited secured the contract by submitting "forged" documents, and Arora was allegedly aware of the company's lack of technical eligibility.

 

According to an ED statement, Arora purportedly received bribes in cash and bank accounts following the awarding of the contract to NKG Infrastructure Limited and allegedly transferred the funds to various individuals involved in DJB affairs, including those connected with the AAP.

 

"Bribe amounts were also passed on as election funds to the AAP," the federal agency has alleged.

 

This marks the second instance where the ED has implicated the AAP in corruption allegations. The agency claims that out of the total bribe amount of Rs 100 crore from the annulled excise policy of 2021-22, Rs 45 crore was utilised by the Kejriwal-led party for campaigning during the Goa Assembly elections.

 

According to the ED, the DJB contract was granted at "highly inflated rates" to facilitate the collection of bribes from the contractors.

 

"As against the contract value of Rs 38 crore, only about Rs 17 crore was spent on the contract, and the remaining amount was siphoned off in the guise of various fake expenses.

 

"Such fake expenses were booked for bribes and election funds," the ED has alleged.

 

During a press briefing, Delhi minister Atishi refuted the allegations and asserted that the case represented another attempt to tarnish the reputation of the AAP and its leadership.