Gujarat minister Bachu Khabad's son arrested in MGNREGA scam in Dahod
Gujarat minister Bachu Khabad's son, Balvantsinh Khabad, was arrested by the Dahod police on Saturday in connection with an alleged Rs 75 crore Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scam in the Devgadh Baria and Dhanpur talukas of the district. Bachu Khabad is the minister of state for panchayat and agriculture.
The arrest came days after Balvantsinh and his younger brother Kiran withdrew their anticipatory bail pleas from the Dahod court.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Jagdish Bhandari, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Dahod, said that Balvantsinh had been arrested after a primary investigation pointed to his involvement in the scam, as per the FIR of the District Rural Development Authority (DRDA).
'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. The probe is ongoing and we are yet to ascertain the exact amount of misdealings,' Bhandari said, adding that Kiran has not been arrested yet and a probe is on to ascertain his role in the scam.
Lodged on April 24, the FIR had alleged that the companies that had not emerged as the winning bids for supplying materials to the MGNREGA projects had been awarded contracts by subverting the process and their bills were also cleared. During the DRDA probe, it also came to light that several bills were allegedly cleared for projects passed on paper, which did not exist on the ground – particularly in Kuva village in Devgadh Baria, where villagers brought the scam to the notice of the district officials.
The Dahod district police had earlier arrested five people in the case, including two accountants of the MGNREGA branch, Jayveer Nagori and Mahipalsinh Chauhan; Gram Rojgar Sevaks Kuldeep Baria and Mangalsinh Pateliya; and technical assistant Manish Patel.
Congress Leader Amit Chavda demanded the formation of a Special Investigation Team. 'Under the BJP's rule in 30 years, corruption is the first virtue in administration… 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,' Chavda said.
'The government is showing it is investigating the case, but it is all an eyewash. An SIT should be formed to investigate this scam, and there will be bigger names tumbling out,' he added.
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