Supreme Court grants bail citing delayed trial in Jal Jeevan graft case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Shubhanshu Dixit and Sanjay Badaya, two accused in a 2024 graft case linked to alleged financial irregularities in Rajasthan's Jal Jeevan Mission. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu said pre-trial incarceration cannot masquerade as punitive detention when a trial cannot be concluded soon. The court noted charges were yet to be framed, the investigation against some accused is still pending, and two suspects are absconding.

The case relates to the Jal Jeevan Mission, a joint central-state scheme for tap water connections. Dixit was secretary of the Rajasthan Water Supply and Sewerage Management Board, and Badaya was alleged to be a broker for the then PHED minister Mahesh Chandra Joshi, who has already been granted bail in the related PMLA case. The court said the sheer volume of evidence makes the trial a protracted exercise, and ordered the accused released on bail bonds to the satisfaction of the trial court, subject to conditions including joining the probe if called.