The Supreme Court today granted bail to Sanjay Badaya in a money laundering case linked to the Jal Jeevan Mission scam in Rajasthan, where he is accused of serving as an intermediary for a Minister.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan passed the order, considering that co-accused Piyush Jain, who faces similar allegations, has already been granted bail, the trial is unlikely to conclude in the near future, and charges are yet to be framed.

"We find that the allegations made against the present petitioner are almost similar to the allegations made against Piyush Jain, who was granted benefit of bail by this Court vide order dated 09.09.2024. As a matter of fact, the said Piyush Jain is also added as an accused in the predicate offense, whereas the present applicant is not an accused in the predicate offense.''

''The further allegation against the applicant as well as said Piyush Jain is that he was facilitating awards of contract from the PHED (Public Health Engineering Department) and receiving money on behalf of Minister of the said Department.Admittedly, the said Minister has also not been made an accused in the present case. Apart from that, substantial evidence in the present case is in the nature of documents and as such, there is no possibility of tampering with the evidence. All these documents are seized by the prosecution.

It is further noted that the charges are yet to be framed. There are 50 witnesses to be examined and evidence contains around 8000 pages. As such, the possibility of the trial being concluded expeditiously is also remote. Taking into consideration all these aspects, and particularly the order passed by co-ordinate bench in the case of Piyush Jain, we are inclined to allow the application."

Badaya was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on July 16 this year and spent nearly five months in custody. The case stems from the awarding of two tenders worth Rs. 197 crores based on fraudulent certificates. According to statements made by co-accused under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Badaya is alleged to have facilitated bribe payments and managed Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) employees on behalf of then Minister Mahesh Joshi.