Rajasthan’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested former state minister Mahesh Joshi on May 7, 2026, in connection with a ₹960 crore scam in the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) tender process. Joshi, a Congress leader and ex-Public Health Engineering Minister, was taken into custody from his residence and remanded to ACB custody until May 11 by a Special Anti-Corruption Court in Jaipur.

The ACB alleges Joshi abused his official position to facilitate fraudulent tender awards, conspiring with contractors, engineers, and retired IAS officer Subodh Agarwal, who was arrested in April 2026. The probe found two private firms secured contracts using forged completion certificates, with no corrective action taken despite known irregularities during Joshi’s tenure.

Since registering the case in late 2024, the ACB has arrested 11 individuals, including serving and retired engineers from the Public Health Engineering Department. The Enforcement Directorate had previously arrested Joshi in April 2025 in a related money laundering case, in which he spent over seven months in jail before securing Supreme Court-granted bail in December 2025.

Joshi denied wrongdoing, telling reporters the arrest was politically motivated and carried out without prior notice. The ACB has stated it will continue its investigation, with the next court hearing scheduled for May 11.