IAS officer Udit Prakash Rai, kin got Rs nearly 5 crore in ‘kickbacks’ in Delhi Jal Board case: ED

Last May, the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi government had booked the six firms and government officials on charges of corruption in the case. The ED had filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in the same case.

Rai could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

The investigating agency wrote to the ACB earlier this month, mentioning a “maze of complex transactions made by the firms”.

The letter, signed by the Assistant Director, Delhi Zonal Officer-I, said that based on the ACB FIR dated May 11, 2024, registered under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC against the six firms — M/s Eurotech Environmental Pvt. Ltd; M/s Ayyapa Infra Projects Pvt. Ltd; M/S Khilari Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd; M/s GSJ Envo Limited; M/s Shubhash Infraengineers Pvt. Ltd; M/s Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon Pvt. Ltd — and other unknown government officials/public servants/private persons etc, an ECIR dated May 13, 2024, was recorded by the ED. The letter claimed that during the probe, it was “revealed” that Rai, when posted as Chief Executive Officer of the DJB, had awarded a tender to various contractors.

“However, the terms and conditions of the tender were restrictive, which resulted in favouring one technology provider — M/s Eurotech Environmental Pvt Ltd. Investigation revealed that funds to the tune of Rs 1.52 crore were received in the bank accounts of Rai and his mother-in-law… from a proprietary firm, AN Enterprises (Prop. Nagendra Yadav), which were transferred through a maze of complex transactions starting from M/s Eurotech Environmental Private Limited (a technology provider company in the said tender) and its related entities,” the letter claimed.

Further, during the investigation, the letter alleged certain transactions were found where M/s Eurotech Environmental Pvt Ltd and Director of M/s Ayyappa Infra Project Pvt Ltd Satish Varma paid Rs 4.82 crore (including Rs 1.52 crore mentioned earlier to Nagendra Yadav and his associates in the form of commission etc.)

The ED also shared a note containing details of these transactions.

The Indian Express emailed five firms named in the note but did not receive a response.

Senior officials in the ACB stated that sanctions for prosecuting some people under Section 17A have been sought.

“We received the letter from the ED and are investigating the matter,” an ACB official said.

“While sanctions have been issued for some individuals, approvals for others are still pending. Our investigation had earlier revealed that some firms were favoured,” the official further added.