Police Arrest Gujarat Minister's Son in Rs 71-Crore MGNREGS Funds Scam
Balvant Khabad and his father Bachubhai (right). Photo: Social media.
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New Delhi: Gujarat police has arrested the son of a minister in an alleged Rs 71-crore scam involving funds of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
Bachubhai Khabad's son, Balvant Khabad, 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, NDTV reported.
Balvant is one of the owners of these agencies. His father is Minister of State for Panchayat and Agriculture and an MLA from Devgadhbariya constituency. Balvant is accused of committing fraud in 'areas under Devgadh Baria and Dhanpur talukas of tribal-dominated Dahod district', the report said.
A former Taluka Development Officer (TDO), Darshan Patel, has also been arrested. Both of them have been remanded to five days of police custody, Indian Express reported.
'We conducted a primary investigation, and it came to light that an agency being run by Balvantsinh Khabad, which supplies goods to MGNREGA projects, had put forth bills for certain amounts without delivering the entire list of goods,' Jagdish Bhandari, Deputy Superintendent of Police of Dahod District said to Express.
'The probe is ongoing and we are yet to ascertain the exact amount of mis-dealings. We have been granted five days' police remand for both the accused arrested today,' Bhandari added.
Congress has alleged that the government did not act despite repeated complaints. It has now demanded that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) should probe the matter.
'Despite repeated complaints of corruption in the MGNREGA scheme in Dahod, where projects have not been executed on the ground but bills have been cleared, the government did not take steps. The Congress has been raising the issue time and again, in writing and orally, as well as through questions in the Assembly,' Amit Chavda, a Congress leader said, according to Express.
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