Supreme Court Grants Bail To Former Rajasthan Minister In Money Laundering Case

The Supreme Court has granted bail to Mahesh Joshi, Congress leader and former Rajasthan Minister, in a money laundering case linked to the alleged irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission Scheme.

70-year-old Mahesh was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) by the federal probe agency after about seven-eight hours of questioning at its office in Jaipur.

The two-Judge Bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Augustine George Masih passed the Order on an Appeal filed by Mahesh.

The said Appeal challenged the Order passed by the Rajasthan High Court in August this year, denying him bail.

The Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering case arose from an FIR registered by Rajasthan’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) into the Scheme that aims to provide safe and adequate drinking water through household tap connections.

The Scheme was implemented in Rajasthan by the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department of the State. Mahesh was a Minister of the department in the previous Ashok Gehlot government.

With PTI Inputs