New Delhi, Apr 25 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Friday alleged that former Rajasthan minister Mahesh Joshi was charging 2-3 per cent of tender amount as "bribe" from certain Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) contractors.

The 70-year-old Congress leader was arrested by the federal probe agency on Thursday in Jaipur following a long session of questioning.

The former minister of the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) is currently in ED custody.

Speaking to reporters outside the ED office in Jaipur after his arrest, Joshi vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

The money laundering case of the ED stems from an FIR of the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) wherein it was alleged that Padamchand Jain, proprietor of Shree Shyam Tubewell Company; Mahesh Mittal of Shree Ganpati Tubewell Company and others were "involved" in giving "bribe" to public servants to obtain illegal protection, get tenders and bills sanctioned, and for covering up irregularities in respect of work executed by them in various PHED tenders.

The suspects were also involved in the use of "fake" and "fabricated" work experience certificates purportedly issued by IRCON in order to get PHED contracts, it claimed.

"Mahesh Joshi, in collusion with his close aide Sanjay Badaya, received undue benefits from contractors like Padamchand Jain and Mahesh Mittal as a quid pro quo for granting tenders pertaining to JJM works and to cover up various irregularities.

"He was charging 2-3 per cent of the tender amount from these contractors as bribe money in order to facilitate favourable treatment and cover up of various irregularities," the ED claimed.

The JJM scheme was being implemented in Rajasthan by the PHED during the previous Ashok Gehlot government.

Gehlot, on Thursday, termed Joshi's arrest "political vendetta" and said the ED has become the "extortion department" of the BJP.

Badaya, an alleged middleman, Mahesh Mittal, Padamchand Jain and Piyush Jain were earlier arrested in this case by the ED.

Badaya, the ED claimed, was in receipt of bribes from the accused firms like Shree Shyam Tubewell Company and Shree Ganpati Tubewell Company to facilitate favourable treatment.

He was also "influencing" officials of the PHED in carrying out their duties, the agency had said. PTI NES DIV DIV

Alleged bribery and money laundering: former minister accused of taking commissions from Jal Jeevan Mission contractors. Allegations identify a scheme of bribery and money laundering in which a former PHED minister allegedly received commission payments from JJM contractors as quid pro quo for awarding tenders, sanctioning bills, and covering up contract irregularities. The inquiry alleges contractors used fabricated work experience certificates to obtain contracts and that a middleman facilitated payments and influenced officials; several contractors and intermediaries were arrested and the former minister is in custody and denies the allegations.