JJM scam: Broker arrested from Chhattisgarh, total arrests rise to 10, look-out notice against retired IAS

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Rajasthan Police has arrested a key accused, a broker and middleman — in the infamous Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scam, taking the total number of arrests to 10.

Meanwhile, a look-out notice has been issued against another key accused, retired IAS officer Subodh Agrawal, and served at airports and other exit points, as he is reportedly untraceable.

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A bureau spokesman said here that broker and middleman Mukesh Kumar Pathak — accused of fabricating fake certificates of a limited company to secure tenders for works worth Rs 960 crore under the JJM — was nabbed late Tuesday night in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh and later brought here.

Pathak is the 10th accused arrested during the multi-location raids conducted by the ACB in different cities.

Meanwhile, the nine accused arrested during Tuesday’s raids were presented before the Special (ACB Matters) Court on Wednesday.

The prosecuting ACB team sought five-day remand of the accused for detailed interrogation and collection of evidence. However, the court remanded them to bureau custody for three days, until February 21, 2026.

The arrested accused officers are: Chief Engineer (PHED Administration) Dinesh Goyal, Chief Engineer (Rural) K.D. Gupta, erstwhile Secretary Subhanahu Dixit, Financial Advisor Sushil Sharma, Chief Engineer (Churu) Niril Kumar, suspended Executive Engineer Vishal Saxena, retired Additional Chief Engineer Arun Srivastava, retired Chief Engineer Dileep Kumar Gaur, and retired Executive Engineer Mahendra Prakash Soni.

In this connection, bureau sources said that ACB teams conducted coordinated searches in Jaipur, Barmer, Udaipur, Karauli, Bilaspur, and the national capital Delhi, leading to the arrest of officials suspected of involvement in large-scale irregularities in the implementation of the Centre-backed drinking water scheme.

They said two tube-well companies allegedly forged certificates in the name of another limited company to fraudulently secure tenders worth around Rs 960 crore.

Mukesh Pathak allegedly prepared the forged certificates. The accused officers are also suspected of manipulating and altering tender terms and conditions to favour certain firms in works valued at approximately Rs 50 crore.