Supreme Court Grants Bail To Former Rajasthan Minister Mahesh Joshi In Jal Jeevan Mission Money Laundering Case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Congress leader and former Rajasthan minister Mahesh Joshi in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Central government's Jal Jeevan Mission in the State.

A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih passed the order in a Special Leave Petition filed by Joshi challenging the Rajasthan High Court's order passed in August denying him bail.

Joshi, who served as the Public Health and Development Department minister during the previous Congress government, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in April this year.  The Enforcement Directorate (ED) argued that Joshi was "prima facie" involved in money laundering of the proceeds acquired through the illegal grant of tenders to co-accused Mahesh Mittal and Padam Chand, amounting to Rs. 50 lakhs, and siphoning off approximately Rs. 2 crores.

The Court granted him bail considering his age, unlikelihood of trial's completion in the near future and the fact that other accused have been given bail.

"Upon considering the material placed before us, we find that several co-accused, whose alleged roles will ultimately be evaluated at trial, have already been granted bail. The Appellant has remained in custody for over seven months. The record is entirely documentary, as of now there are 66 witnesses, 184 documents, and more than 14,600 pages are involved, and the proceedings are still at the stage of supply of copy of the police report and other documents under Section 207, CrPC. In our view, these circumstances indicate that the commencement of trial is not imminent and that the trial itself is not likely to conclude once started in the near future. The continued detention of the Appellant requires closer scrutiny in light of constitutional considerations."

The order also placed reliance on the judgment in the V Senthil Balaji case.

Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra and Advocate Vivek Jain appeared for Joshi.

Case: SH MAHESH JOSHI v. DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT | SLP(Crl) No. 13737/2025

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 1166

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