Jaipur (PTI): Retired IAS officer Subodh Agarwal, arrested in connection with the alleged Rs 960-crore Jal Jeevan Mission scam, was produced before an ACB court on Monday, which sent him to two days' police remand.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau had sought a three-day remand for further questioning in the matter, but the court granted two days' custody.

The order was passed by the ACB Court-1.

A team from the ACB arrested Agarwal on Thursday in connection with the multi-crore Jal Jeevan Mission corruption case.

He was sent to a three-day police remand on Friday. On completion of the remand period, the ACB produced him in court.

Agarwal was serving as the additional chief secretary of the public health engineering department when the alleged scam took place.

Some firms had allegedly secured tenders by submitting forged completion certificates in connivance with officers. Last month, the ACB arrested nine persons, including senior engineers and retired officials, in connection with the scam. Earlier, the ACB had arrested contractors.

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Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Thursday reduced the size of his official convoy to the minimum required strength following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's austerity call.

In a post on 'X', the Lok Bhavan said Gehlot had taken the step in response to the Prime Minister's appeal for fuel conservation and reduction in foreign exchange expenditure amid the West Asia crisis.

"Hon'ble Governor of Karnataka Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot has reduced his convoy to the minimum required strength, following Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji's appeal," the post said.

The move comes days after Modi, while addressing a rally organised by the BJP in Hyderabad, called for several measures aimed at conserving foreign exchange and reducing dependence on imports amid tensions in West Asia.

The Prime Minister had urged citizens to reduce petrol and diesel consumption, use metro rail services in cities, adopt carpooling, increase the use of electric vehicles and utilise railway services for parcel transportation. He had also suggested working from home wherever possible to conserve fuel and foreign exchange.

Modi further appealed to people to postpone the purchase of gold and foreign travel for one year, reduce edible oil consumption, lower dependence on chemical fertilisers and promote natural farming and swadeshi products to strengthen self-reliance and conserve foreign exchange.