SC grants bail to ex-Rajasthan Minister's close aide in Jal Jeevan Mission scam case

New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Sanjay Badaya, a close aide of former Rajasthan Water Supply Minister Mahesh Joshi, in the alleged Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scam.

In July this year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Badaya after it found incriminating evidence and documents indicating his active role in a money laundering case linked to the JJM case.

A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan allowed Badaya’s bail plea, taking note of the fact that the charges are yet to be framed and as such, the possibility of the trial being concluded expeditiously is also remote.

Earlier, the Rajasthan High Court had denied bail to Badaya, referring to Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which provides that an accused can be released on bail only when the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not guilty of the offences alleged and is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.

A bench of Justice Praveer Bhatnagar of the Rajasthan HC had said that there was "enough material on the record to indicate that the accused received money from the other co-accused in his father’s account and also ‘siphoned off’ the amount in purchasing the land".

In the course of its investigation, the ED found that Badaya was in touch with private contractors and middlemen and was taking bribes on behalf of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) officials. He was allegedly playing the role of a bridge between the officials and the contractors.

The probe revealed that Badaya was the right-hand man of former PHED Minister Mahesh Joshi and had interference in the office and its files. The ED had also arrested Piyush Jain and his father Padam Chand Jain and Mahesh Mittal in this case. In September this year, the top court had granted bail to Piyush Jain taking note of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case.

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