Held in MGNREGA ‘scam', sons of Gujarat minister Khabad granted bail but won't get to walk out of jail for now
A court in Dahod district on Wednesday granted conditional bail to two sons of Gujarat Minister Bachubhai Khabad — Balvantsinh and Kiran — who were arrested in an alleged scam of Rs 71 crore, stemming from works carried out under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The state government has decided to appeal against the bail order on Thursday, top officials of Dahod district administration confirmed. The Khabad brothers, meanwhile, will continue to remain in judicial custody until the hearing of the appeal on Thursday, they added on condition of anonymity.
The court granted Balvantsinh and Kiran regular bail in the case of the alleged MGNREGA scam unearthed in the villages of Devgarh Baria and Dhanpur district. Advocate A R Chauhan, representing the Khabad brothers, told The Indian Express that the court had granted regular bail on a surety of Rs 50,000 and with condition to cooperate in further investigation.
While Balvantsinh was arrested on May 17, Kiran was held on May 19.
Chauhan said, 'We argued on the grounds that the firms (of Balvantsinh and Kiran) were involved in supplying material and did not have a contract to complete the work on the ground. Their liability cannot be made out in the case of non-completion of MGNREGA projects as they only supplied the material, and it was not their job to see if the material was used for completing the roads or not. The court considered the argument and also the fact that they had been arrested and subjected to questioning during the police remand.'
On the state government preparing to challenge the bail order, an official said, 'We have been granted a day's time to challenge the bail order. We will seek a stay on the bail order on Thursday.'
Meanwhile, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) termed the 'sidelining' of Khabad as an 'eyewash' by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Dr Manish Doshi, GPCC Spokesperson, told this newspaper, 'Sidelining Khabad from two events is a face-saving exercise by the BJP… Whenever someone is caught in the middle of party-backed corruption, they indulge in a hogwash by sidelining the person concerned for a brief period. The BJP has an absolute majority. What is stopping them from demanding Khabad's resignation or removing him from the cabinet? If they are indeed embarrassed, they should have him resign.'
Notably, Khabad was conspicuous by his absence during an event in Dahod on Monday, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a 9000 HP Locomotive Rolling Stock Workshop, built by the Ministry of Railways, besides other development projects in the state.
Doshi further said, 'This (MGNREGA issue) is only one case in Dahod… in most districts, such scams abound and investigations have not taken place in many of them. If other cases are also investigated, Khabad's links would be found there, too. It is the BJP's policy to promote people who indulge in corruption…'
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