Cops Arrest Gujarat Minister's Second Son in Alleged MGNREGS Funds Scam
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Cops Arrest Gujarat Minister's Second Son in Alleged MGNREGS Funds Scam
The Wire Staff
3 minutes ago
Bachubhai Khabad is the minister of state for panchayat and agriculture.
Gujarat minister of state for panchayat and agriculture Bachubhai Khabad. Photo: X.com/@bachubhaikhabad
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New Delhi: Days after taking Gujarat minister Bachubhai Khabad's elder son Balvant into custody in connection with a 71 crore Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) scam, the state police on Monday (May 19) arrested his younger son Kiran in the same case.
'On Monday, police arrested the minister's younger son Kiran, a former taluka development officer (TDO), and two assistant programming officers (APO),' said deputy superintendent of police and investigating officer in the case Jagdishsinh Bhandari, reported Press Trust of India.
The police have said that the accused were involved in a fraudulent scheme wherein different contracted agencies received payments from the government without finishing the assigned work or supplying the required materials under MGNREGS.
Officials said that Balvant and Kiran are proprietors of such agencies which are implicated in the scam involving fraudulent MGNREGS projects in the state.
Khabad, the father of both the arrested accused, is the minister of state for panchayat and agriculture.
The police had started the investigation after during field visits, it was found by the district rural development agency (DRDA) that while payments were made for infrastructure projects such as roads, check wells and stone bunds, they were never actually constructed.
It was also found that those agencies which were ineligible for government contracts along with those which didn't even participate in the official tendering process were issued payments.
Earlier, Balvant was nabbed by the police in Dahod. According to the police, some agencies which had been contracted for various works, did not finish the projects but received payment from the government. These agencies produced bogus bills.
Balvant is one of the owners of these agencies and is accused of committing fraud in 'areas under Devgadh Baria and Dhanpur talukas of tribal-dominated Dahod district.
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