Dahod MGNREGA ‘scam': Gujarat Minister Khabad's younger son sent to four days in police custody
A court in Dahod on Tuesday sent Gujarat Minister of State for Panchayat and Agriculture Bachubhai Khabad's younger son Kiran Khabad to four days in police custody, following his arrest on Monday in connection with an alleged Rs 71 crore Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scam in Devgadh Baria and Dhanpur talukas of Dahod. According to police, three more persons have been arrested, taking the tally to 14 so far.
Along with Kiran Khabad, Dahod Deputy District Development Officer (DDO) Rasik Parmar — who was the then taluka development officer of Dhanpur, and Parth Baria, the owner of one of the agencies supplying material have also been sent to four days in police custody while former Assistant Programme Officer Dilip Chauhan — also said to be distant relative of the Khabads — has been sent to 10 days in police custody. Dahod Deputy Superintendent of Police Jagdishsinh Bhandari told The Indian Express that the police had sought remand for 14 days.
'We had applied for 14 days remand but the court granted a remand of 10 days for Chauhan, and four days for Kiran Khabad and others. We also have Balvantsinh (Bachubhai's older son) in custody until Thursday… The investigation involves sensitive details of the transactions and having the accused in custody together will help the probe,' Bhandari said.
While Bhandari refused to detail the grounds put forth in the remand application, he said that on Tuesday, the Dahod district police arrested three more persons, then Assistant Programme Officer of Dhanpur Bhavesh Rathod, MIS operator Sanjay Baria and the owner of another agency that supplied materials, Jagdish Baria, taking the total number of arrested accused to 14 so far.
A senior police official told this newspaper that the probe was on to ascertain the exact amount of the scam as a total of 35 'unauthorised' agencies, including 28 in Devgadh Baria had been paid from the MGNREGA funds towards alleged supply of materials.
'There are certainly other persons the police are looking for. They are owners of the other agencies, who have also been paid for supply of material. The police are also probing if Balvantsinh or Kiran Khabad through their influence in the area floated any additional agencies under names of others. So far, on record, only two agencies — Raj Construction and Raj Traders— reflect against their names,' the official said. 'During the investigation, if owners of other agencies who received payments cannot be tracked down, the probe will obviously take a different turn,' the official added.
On Tuesday, in a video issued by close aides of Bachubhai Khabad, the minister was heard blaming the Congress party for 'baseless allegations'. Stating that he and his sons were involved in the business of supplying material and were not engaged for 'labour contracts', Khabad said, 'The Congress has been making allegations (of MGNREGA scam) since last six months)… There has been an allegation against 35 agencies. My sons also run a material supplying business since 2018. They do not have any other business. We can sell this even in the open market. We do not have labour nor have we been given the contract for labour work in this (project)… The administration is conducting an investigation and I trust the probe of the administration. Whatever it concludes, we will accept…'
Khabad further added, 'The Congress has been making such allegations every year since long. They have moved the High Court against me on two occasions. The High Court has given me a clean chit.'
'I have been in politics for 25 years and not a single allegation of corruption has been made during my tenure as a Cabinet Minister. In this term, my department has worked hard to move Panchayat processes online to ensure transparency … The baseless allegations made by the Congress are a sign of their frustration,' the minister said.
Bachubhai Khabad did not respond to calls and text messages from this newspaper, seeking a direct comment on the issue.
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