Bogus govt office: Special prosecutor declines role over low pay
Vadodara: The govt may have to look for another special prosecutor for the Bodeli fake govt office case, as the advocate who was offered the job turned it down. Hitesh Gupta told Chhota Udepur police that he wouldn't be able to appear for the trial due to remuneration issues.
"I was keen to appear as the special public prosecutor, but the remuneration offered was too low. It wouldn't even cover my fuel expenses. Considering the bulky records and the 670 witnesses, there would be hundreds of trial dates for which I would have to travel from Vadodara to the Chhota Udepur court," Gupta told TOI.
"When I worked out the expenses, it was quite a bit more than the remuneration offered. I then communicated verbally to Chhota Udepur police that I wouldn't be able to appear as the special prosecutor for the trial," Gupta said.
The fake govt office case surfaced in 2023, where a bogus office was operating under the name of "executive engineer, irrigation project division, Bodeli". The office, set up in a commercial complex in Bodeli town, sent several proposals for development works under govt schemes, including the New Gujarat Pattern, Border Village and Mahila Ghar Angne Pani, for over two years, starting July 2021.
These proposals were submitted to the office of the project administrator (tribal sub-plan) in Chhota Udepur district and were cleared too. Payments worth Rs 4.15 crore were released based on claims of completed works. The scam surfaced when the actual project administrator, Sachin Kumar, sought details of the irrigation projects of Division-2 Bodeli, worth Rs 3.74 crore, from the executive engineer.
He then asked officials to dig up details of proposals previously made by the office, and it was then that the racket surfaced. The accused executed a similar racket in Dahod district and stole public money.
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