Delhi Jal Board Case: ED attaches properties worth Rs 8.80 crore

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has attached various immovable and movable properties worth Rs 8.80 crore of former Delhi Jal Board (DJB) chief engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora, his wife Alka Arora and others in a money laundering case.

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached various immovable and movable properties worth Rs 8.80 crore of Jagdish Kumar Arora, the then Chief Engineer of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and his wife Alka Arora, Anil Kumar Aggarwal, proprietor of Integral Screw Industries (sub-contractor) and NKG Infrastructure Limited (Contractor of DJB) under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in the case related to alleged corruption in Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the Central probe agency claimed on Tuesday.

The ED initiated investigations based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which contained scheduled offences related to alleged corruption/bribery in DJB. The FIR alleged that Jagdish Kumar Arora awarded a flow meter contract of DJB to M/s NKG Infrastructure Limited at a highly inflated cost of Rs 38 crore, the ED claimed in a communique.

The investigation of ED revealed that NKG Infrastructure Limited obtained the bid by submitting alleged false documents. Jagdish Kumar Arora was allegedly aware of the fact that the company did not meet the technical eligibility criteria for sanctioning the tender. NKG Infrastructure Limited subcontracted the work to Integral Screws Limited, a proprietorship firm of Anil Kumar Aggarwal, the agency claimed.

"Out of Rs 24 crore payment received by DJB, only about Rs 14 crore was spent towards the contract work and the remaining amount was siphoned off for alleged bribe," the statement said. The ED had earlier conducted search operations on July 24, 2023, and November 17, 2023, which resulted in the seizure of incriminating documents and evidence. The ED had arrested Jagdish Kumar Arora and Anil Kumar Aggarwal on January 31 this year, and both are in judicial custody till date, it said. The prosecution complaint against Jagdish Kumar Arora, Anil Kumar Aggarwal and their close associates was filed on March 28 this year, the ED said.