State government has ordered 100 ventilators, not thousand!
The order has not been confirmed, says the company
Bengaluru: The state government had said that it has ordered 1000 ventilators to Skanray Technology Company of Mysuru to control coronavirus infection. However, it has been reported that so far only 100 ventilators have been ordered. Even that order is also not confirmed, said the company.
Though the chief minister, deputy chief minister and government officials had convened a meeting through video conference on March 23 and decided to immediately order a thousand ventilators. But we have received an order to provide only 100 ventilators, said the company's founder and managing director, Vishwaprasad Alva.
The DCM and the Health Minister have given notice but It remained merely on letters as no advance payment was made. Thus, the order that has arrived now cannot be considered a confirmed order. We are not manufacturing ventilators for the state government, he clarified.
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Former Rajasthan minister Mahesh Joshi arrested in Rs 960 crore JJM scam
Jaipur (PTI): Rajasthan's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday arrested former minister Mahesh Joshi from his Jaipur residence in connection with the alleged Rs 960-crore Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scam, officials said.
The arrest was made a month after retired IAS officer Subodh Agarwal was apprehended.
Joshi, who was the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) minister during the former Congress government, was produced before a court where he was remanded to police custody till May 11.
Joshi was earlier arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in April 2025 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged scam. He remained in jail for around seven months before being granted bail by the Supreme Court in December.
ACB's Special Investigation Team (SIT) reached Joshi's residence in San Colony near Jaipur Railway Station early around 5 am and detained him in connection with the probe into the JJM scan, an ACB spokesperson said.
He was later brought to the ACB office and was placed under arrest.
While being taken to the courtroom, Joshi told reporters that the ACB did not serve him any notice and reached his residence early in the morning.
Joshi said that he was innocent and termed the ACB's action against him "cruel".
"Nothing can be more cruel than this. I am innocent. Today is my wedding anniversary, and this is how the government pays tribute to my (deceased) wife," Joshi said.
Joshi's wife, Kaushal, had passed away last year, four days after he was arrested by the ED.
"Truth may be challenged, but never be defeated," Joshi said.
He, however, declined to comment on the case in detail, adding, "All I can say is that I am innocent."
According to the ACB, Joshi is accused of misusing his position as the then PHED minister and accepting bribes in exchange for tenders.
The ACB registered an FIR against the former minister and others in late 2024.
ACB Director General Govind Gupta said the investigation by the SIT revealed that two firms secured tenders worth around Rs 960 crore by submitting forged completion certificates, purportedly issued by the IRCON International Ltd.
According to the ACB, Joshi, along with former additional chief secretary of PHED Subodh Agarwal, engineers, contractors and private individuals, conspired to facilitate the award of tenders through fraudulent means and caused huge financial loss to the state exchequer.
Apart from Joshi, as many as 11 accused, including retired IAS officer Subodh Agarwal, serving and retired PHED engineers, have already been arrested in the case.
Three other accused, former superintending engineer Mukesh Goyal, former executive engineer Jitendra Sharma and one Sanjeev Gupta, are absconding.
Permanent arrest warrants have already been issued against them, and proceedings are underway to declare them proclaimed offenders, officials said.
The ACB said five other accused have received protection from arrest from the Rajasthan High Court.
