ED attaches properties of Delhi Jal Board's former chief engineer, contractor

The Enforcement Directorate has attached various movable and immovable properties of Delhi Jal Board's former chief engineer and his wife, as well as a contractor and sub-contractor in a corruption case, an agency statement said.

The total value of the attached properties of DJB's former chief engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora, his wife Alka Arora, contractor NKG Infrastructure Ltd, and sub-contractor Integral Screw Industries' proprietor Anil Kumar Aggarwal is stated to be Rs 8.80 crore, the ED said, adding that it launched the probe based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

As per the FIR, Arora had awarded the DJB's flow meter contract to NKG Infrastructure Ltd at a highly-inflated cost of Rs 38 crore despite the company not meeting the technical eligibility criteria.

The ED probe also found that the company obtained the bid by submitting forged/fake/false documents.

NKG Infrastructure Ltd sub-contracted the work to Integral Screws Ltd, and of the Rs 24 crore payment received, only about Rs 14 crore was spent towards the contract work, while the remaining amount was siphoned off/spent for bribe.

As per the ED, Arora allegedly received a bribe of Rs 3.19 crore out of which he transferred Rs 2 crore to other Delhi Jal Board officials and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as election funds.

The ED said that it had earlier conducted search operations at the premises of the accused on 24 July 2023, and 17 November 2023, which resulted in the seizure of incriminating documents and evidence.

Arora and Aggarwal are in judicial custody following their arrest on 31 January.

A charge sheet against the two and the other accused persons was filed on 28 March, the ED said.