The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating the "final beneficiaries" of ₹2 crore alleged kickbacks paid in the Delhi Jal Board case allegedly utilised by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for election funding, people in the know told ET. The federal agency is probing the final beneficiaries of ₹2.01 crore which was allegedly transferred to various persons, including other officers (in addition to the ones chargesheeted already) of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and for election funding of AAP, people quoted above told ET.
Tajinder Pal Singh, a chartered accountant by profession and an accused in the case, turned approver last December after the Delhi High Court allowed his plea to turn approver. The HC recorded in its order that Singh "has already given a pendrive containing codes which only the petitioner is to decipher, which is crucial and important for ED to be able to connect the money trail in the present case". Singh's plea to turn an approver was previously rejected by the sessions court in August 2024. Setting aside the sessions court order, the HC in December held "..once the prosecution is seeking the petitioner as a witness and has agreed to the fact that he may be tendered pardon, keeping in mind, the evidence that is sought from the petitioner the quality as well as the quantity of the same in my view, it was not correct on the part of the learned sessions court to get into the subjective satisfaction of the prosecuting agency".
In a related development, the Delhi HC last week granted bail to Anil Kumar Aggarwal, a sub-contractor and a co-accused in the case. Aggarwal is accused of submitting allegedly forged and fabricated performance certificates in favour of M/s NKG Infrastructure Ltd., on the basis of which the company was awarded the DJB contract. The ED has alleged that Aggarwal had paid a bribe to co-accused Jagdish Kumar Arora, the then chief engineer of the DJB to illegally secure the contract.
But Aggarwal's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal has argued that reliance placed by the ED on certain excel spreadsheets is misconceived. The spreadsheets, in the absence of authentication, authorship, or supporting material, are nothing but loose sheets, the advocate argued. The defence lawyer further contended that the prosecution's case hinges almost entirely on the statements of Tajinder Pal Singh, a self-confessed participant in the alleged conspiracy. "His (Singh) testimony, being that of an accomplice, is inherently tainted," the defence counsel argued.
On the other hand, ED's counsel contended that the accused (Anil Aggarwal) allegedly laundered proceeds of crime through fictitious entries to the tune of ₹8.38 crore in relation to the contract.
Recording that Aggarwal has been behind bars for over one year, the HC said, "It is evident that prolonged incarceration, when coupled with a demonstrable delay in the progress of trial, may constitute a compelling ground for the grant of bail".
The court noted that ED's prosecution complaint (equivalent to a charge sheet) alone spans 122 volumes, comprising over 15,750 pages. In parallel, the charge sheet filed by the CBI extends across 209 volumes with 14,385 pages, 101 prosecution witnesses, and a mix of relied-upon and unrelied documents. "This sheer volume leaves little doubt that both trials will be document intensive and procedurally complex. The process of framing charges, issuing summons, examining witnesses, recording statements under Section 313 of the CrPC, and concluding final arguments is unlikely to unfold within any short or predictable timeframe," the high court ruled. In February 2024, the ED had raided around a dozen premises linked to Bibhav Kumar, former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's personal secretary; ND Gupta, AAP Rajya Sabha MP; Shalabh Kumar, former DJB member and others in connection with its money laundering probe in the case.
According to the agency, Jagdish Kumar Arora, the then chief engineer of the DJB, allegedly awarded a contract for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of electromagnetic flow meters to NKG Infrastructure Ltd. for a total cost of ₹38 crore, despite the company not meeting the technical eligibility criteria.
The agency has alleged that its probe revealed that NKG Infrastructure Ltd. secured the bid by submitting forged or false documents. It is further alleged that NKG Infrastructure Ltd. subcontracted the work to Integral Screws Ltd., a firm owned by Anil Kumar Aggarwal who allegedly transferred around ₹3 crore as a bribe to Jagdish Kumar Arora through various means, including cash and bank transactions.
Tajinder Pal Singh, a chartered accountant by profession and an accused in the case, turned approver last December after the Delhi High Court allowed his plea to turn approver. The HC recorded in its order that Singh "has already given a pendrive containing codes which only the petitioner is to decipher, which is crucial and important for ED to be able to connect the money trail in the present case". Singh's plea to turn an approver was previously rejected by the sessions court in August 2024. Setting aside the sessions court order, the HC in December held "..once the prosecution is seeking the petitioner as a witness and has agreed to the fact that he may be tendered pardon, keeping in mind, the evidence that is sought from the petitioner the quality as well as the quantity of the same in my view, it was not correct on the part of the learned sessions court to get into the subjective satisfaction of the prosecuting agency".
In a related development, the Delhi HC last week granted bail to Anil Kumar Aggarwal, a sub-contractor and a co-accused in the case. Aggarwal is accused of submitting allegedly forged and fabricated performance certificates in favour of M/s NKG Infrastructure Ltd., on the basis of which the company was awarded the DJB contract. The ED has alleged that Aggarwal had paid a bribe to co-accused Jagdish Kumar Arora, the then chief engineer of the DJB to illegally secure the contract.
But Aggarwal's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal has argued that reliance placed by the ED on certain excel spreadsheets is misconceived. The spreadsheets, in the absence of authentication, authorship, or supporting material, are nothing but loose sheets, the advocate argued. The defence lawyer further contended that the prosecution's case hinges almost entirely on the statements of Tajinder Pal Singh, a self-confessed participant in the alleged conspiracy. "His (Singh) testimony, being that of an accomplice, is inherently tainted," the defence counsel argued.
On the other hand, ED's counsel contended that the accused (Anil Aggarwal) allegedly laundered proceeds of crime through fictitious entries to the tune of ₹8.38 crore in relation to the contract.
Recording that Aggarwal has been behind bars for over one year, the HC said, "It is evident that prolonged incarceration, when coupled with a demonstrable delay in the progress of trial, may constitute a compelling ground for the grant of bail".
The court noted that ED's prosecution complaint (equivalent to a charge sheet) alone spans 122 volumes, comprising over 15,750 pages. In parallel, the charge sheet filed by the CBI extends across 209 volumes with 14,385 pages, 101 prosecution witnesses, and a mix of relied-upon and unrelied documents. "This sheer volume leaves little doubt that both trials will be document intensive and procedurally complex. The process of framing charges, issuing summons, examining witnesses, recording statements under Section 313 of the CrPC, and concluding final arguments is unlikely to unfold within any short or predictable timeframe," the high court ruled. In February 2024, the ED had raided around a dozen premises linked to Bibhav Kumar, former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's personal secretary; ND Gupta, AAP Rajya Sabha MP; Shalabh Kumar, former DJB member and others in connection with its money laundering probe in the case.
According to the agency, Jagdish Kumar Arora, the then chief engineer of the DJB, allegedly awarded a contract for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of electromagnetic flow meters to NKG Infrastructure Ltd. for a total cost of ₹38 crore, despite the company not meeting the technical eligibility criteria.
The agency has alleged that its probe revealed that NKG Infrastructure Ltd. secured the bid by submitting forged or false documents. It is further alleged that NKG Infrastructure Ltd. subcontracted the work to Integral Screws Ltd., a firm owned by Anil Kumar Aggarwal who allegedly transferred around ₹3 crore as a bribe to Jagdish Kumar Arora through various means, including cash and bank transactions.
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