The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Rajasthan has intensified its search for a retired Indian Administrative Service officer in connection with an alleged diversion of Rs nine billion (bn) intended for the Jal Jeevan scheme.

The development follows registration of an inquiry into irregularities in project implementation and fund utilisation linked to the programme, and investigators have described the matter as a priority while seeking to establish the sequence of transactions and administrative approvals.

Special teams from the ACB have been deployed across several districts to locate the former official and to examine records at offices associated with the scheme, and the bureau is coordinating with local police and administrative authorities to check travel movements and service records while compiling documentary evidence.

Notices have been issued to relevant entities and officials are reviewing audit trails and tracing the financial trail by scrutinising contractor agreements, payment orders and bank records, with forensic accounting specialists engaged to analyse complex transactions and to advise on legal measures to secure assets and essential material for prosecution.

Investigators are focused on producing a clear chronology of disbursements and on identifying any beneficiaries of misdirected funds, and the agency is assessing the need for applications to freeze assets or seek preservation orders as permitted by law.

Officials indicated that the inquiry aims to ensure accountability and to recover public funds if irregularities are established, and that the process will follow statutory procedures and formal legal channels with any arrests or charges dependent on evidence gathered during the search and review while emphasising that due process will govern subsequent action promptly.