MGNREGA ‘scam': Kiran Khabad sent to seven days in police custody
A local court in Dahod on Friday remanded Kiran Khabad — son of Gujarat Minister of State for Panchayat and Agriculture, Bachubhai Khabad — to seven days in police custody in an alleged scam under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Lavaria village of Devgadh Baria taluka, for which a second FIR was lodged against him on Thursday afternoon based on the complaint of the District Rural Development Authority (DRDA).
Kiran and his brother Balvantsinh were earlier arrested in an alleged scam of Rs 71 crore in works carried out under the MGNREGA in two villages in Devgadh Baria and one in Dhanpur taluka — from where the Khabads hail.
Dahod district Deputy Superintendent of Police Jagdishsinh Bhandari told The Indian Express that the police had sought a remand of 14 days to conduct an investigation into the second FIR lodged in the alleged scam of about Rs 18.41 lakh in works done under MGNREGA, from January 2021 to December 2024.
'We sought the remand on the ground that we need to probe the transactions involved, who made the bills and who passed them. Who are the government officers involved in the scam and who benefited from the scam. We had sought a 14 days remand but the court granted a remand of seven days,' Bhandari told this newspaper.
The FIR, lodged by in-charge DRDA Director SC Bhambholiya, states, 'After inspecting the site of various works in Lavaria village, it was found that out of the total 79 works, 21 had not been completed but bills worth Rs 18.41 lakh towards material and labour were cleared… The same was done in connivance with government officials by unauthorised agencies that did not participate in the tender process or emerge as the L1 bidder in the MGNREGA projects.'
L1 bidder submits the lowest bid price in a procurement process.
Kiran had been taken into custody from outside Dahod sub-jail, following his release on regular bail on Thursday in the first FIR of the alleged scam of Rs 71 crore. While his older brother Balvantsinh was allowed to leave from the sub-jail as per the conditions of the bail, Kiran was formally arrested at Dahod B-Division police station late on Thursday evening.
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