Delhi Jal Board contracts case: ED attaches properties of ex-official, others

The AAP, however, said that multiple probes have yet to reveal any wrongdoing by its leaders, and accused ED of defaming the party

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said that former Delhi Jal Board (DJB) chief engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora transferred ₹2 crore — paid as bribes to his colleagues in the water utility — to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as election funds. The federal agency is probing alleged irregularities in the awarding of DJB contracts.

The ED‘s probe into alleged irregularities in the awarding of DJB contracts is based on a case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in July 2022. (Reuters file)

The AAP, however, said that multiple probes have yet to reveal any wrongdoing by its leaders, and accused ED of defaming the party.

The ED‘s probe into alleged irregularities in the awarding of DJB contracts is based on a case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in July 2022, related to alleged corruption in the water utility. It has been alleged that Arora awarded a contract to M/s NKG Infrastructure Ltd for ₹38 crore, even though the company did not meet the technical eligibility criteria.

The allegation by ED came as the federal agency on Tuesday attached assets worth ₹8.8 crore of Jagdish Arora, his wife Alka Arora, sub-contractor and Integral Screw Industries proprietor Anil Kumar Aggarwal, and NKG Infrastructure Ltd.

Jagdish Arora and Aggarwal were arrested by ED in January and are currently in judicial custody.

“Out of ₹24 crore payment received by DJB, only about ₹14 crore was spent towards the contract work and the remaining amount was siphoned off/spent for bribes. Jagdish Kumar Arora received a bribe of ₹3.19 crore out of which he transferred ₹2 crore to other Delhi Jal Board officials and Aam Aadmi Party as election fund,” the ED statement said.

In response, the AAP alleged that ED was trying to defame the party.

“We welcome a free and fair investigation into any kind of alleged wrongdoing in the DJB. But we condemn the ED’s blatantly false allegation that AAP or its leaders have anything to do with this case… Their only purpose is to defame CM Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party by creating a media sensation every day.”

This is not the first time that ED has claimed that bribe money from DJB was passed on as election funds to the AAP — the federal agency had made a similar allegation in February. ED had, in fact, issued summons to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the case in March, but he did not appear before the agency.