DJB scam: Satyender Jain's judicial custody extended till Sept 17

The Rouse Avenue court extended the judicial custody of former Delhi Minister Satyender Jain and four others in the DJB STP Tender scam case till September 17. The court is set to pronounce its order on Jain's bail plea on the same day.

The Rouse Avenue court on Thursday extended the judicial custody of 5 accused till September 17. Accused Satyender Jain, former DJB CEO Udit Prakash Rai, Nagendra Yadav, Ankit Shrivastava, Pankaj Verma and Raj Kumar Kurra are in judicial custody after their arrest by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) in the DJB STP Tender scam case.

Former Delhi Minister Satyender Jain was produced physically before the court. The court will pronounce an order on his bail application at 2 PM.

Other accused were produced through video conferencing. Their bail applications will be heard on September 5.

Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh extended the judicial custody of the accused persons till September 17. The court directed the Jail Authorities to produce the accused persons through video conferencing on September 5 to attend the bail hearing.

ACB's Allegations in DJB Tender Scam

It is alleged that the investigation has disclosed that the technical proposal for augmentation of Rohini STP from 15 MGD to 25 MGD was altered by the then Minister, who approved enhancement to 30 MGD without any technical recommendation or feasibility study. Similarly, Rohini and Narela STPs were included in the project while Okhla Phase-V STP was excluded, resulting in an estimated escalation of approximately Rs.123 crore. These arbitrary decisions of Minister (Jain) were allegedly taken without adequate technical justification.

Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) sought extension of Judicial custody of Satyendar Kumar Jain, former Minister of Water, GNCTD, Udit Prakash Rai (IAS), former CEO, Delhi Jal Board, Nagendra Yadav, Proprietor M/s AN Enterprises, Raja Kumar Kurra, Owner M/s Euroteck Environment Pvt. Ltd, Pankaj Verma, Proprietor M/s Srijanhar and Ankit Shrivastava. Public Prosecutor Manish Rawat appeared for the ACB and sought judicial custody of 5 accused and police custody of Ankit Sharma.

It is alleged that the investigation has established that one Nagendra Yadav acted as an intermediary between officials of DJB and representatives of Euroteck. Sh. KVNS Rao (Euroteck) handed the letter to Nagendra Yadav, who subsequently delivered it to the office of Satyendar Jain. It is further alleged that thereafter, Satyendar Kumar Jain directed Ankit Srivastava (a contractual consultant in DJB) to coordinate with KVNS Rao regarding a meeting after sharing the visiting card of KVNS Rao. The screenshot of the chat between K.V.N.S. Rao and Ankit Shrivastav was recovered from the mobile phone of Sh. K.V.N.S. Rao.

Investigation has also revealed dilution of environmental norms prescribed by the CPCB. CPCB had prescribed eight mandatory parameters for treated effluent quality. However, only five parameters were incorporated into the tender documents while important mandatory parameters such as pH, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Nitrogen (N-Total) were omitted, thereby diluting environmental safeguards in order to give undue advantage to the above technology provider, the ACB alleged.

Satyender Jain Refutes Allegations

It was submitted on behalf of Satyender Jain that the tenders were floated in October 2022 and Jain was under custody in another case. It is alleged without any evidence that Jain was involved in the tender process. No case of arrest is made out against Jain, and he should be released from custody. Based on the amount recovered from other accused, ACB cannot arrest Jain, Senior Advocate N Hariharan had submitted. It was also submitted that Jain has not come in the way of the investigation; all the evidence has been collected, and his presence is before the investigating officer. What are you going to recover from him? Judicial custody is not required as the arrest is illegal.

Advocate Rajat Bhardwaj appeared for Ankit Shrivastava through video conferencing.

Satyendra Jain had also addressed the court. He said that the government had decided to clean the River Yamuna. The cost of the existing STP is half than the new one. Then, the augmentation of existing STPs. It was decided to increase the capacity of the existing STPs. I was minister for 8 Ministeries. "I was bound to accept the technical advice."

He further said that when tenders were floated, the tender amount was around Rs.1546 crore. Opposing the contention of ACB, Jain had said that the Minister is not connected with the corrigendum, "I was removed on May 30. I had no portfolio. Work was awarded 6 months after my exit." Jain had said that the Rs. 1546 crore was termed as highly inflated. But Rs 1938 crore was okay; he added that if the price was inflated, then the tender could be reissued. It is a classic case where Jain was roped in. "If the tender was okay at Rs. 1938 crore. Then it was okay for Rs. 1546 crore," former Minister Jain Said.

ACB Details Alleged Irregularities

While seeking the judicial custody of accused persons, the ACB submitted that there are Irregularities in the tender of STP. It was on August 29, 2021. Ankit Shrivastava sent a message to the employees of a company. It was also argued by the ACB that the cost of the project was escalated in crores.

There were two 2 meetings held on December 22 and 23, 2022. A deal for a 2 per cent commission was struck. "There were three companies; during the investigation, it was revealed that Hitachi and Avigo didn't make the desired equipment. Only Eurotech (Accused) was manufacturing the equipment", the agency had said.

The ACB said that Ankit Shrivastava sent the corrigendum to the owner of the company. He has no business with the STP, but he joined the meeting; he advised that he share the corrigendum.

It was also submitted that the Sludge treatment was separated from the STP to invite a separate tender. Corrigenda were uploaded on the website of DJB, not published in the newspaper.

It was also submitted that Rs. 2.7 crore came in Srijanhar from Eurotech without any work. Out of this amount, Rs. 1.22 crore went to another company. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)