MNREGA scam: 2ndson of minister held

Vadodara: The younger son of Gujarat's minister of state for agriculture and panchayat, Bachu Khabad, was arrested on Monday in connection with the Rs 71 crore MNREGA scam in Dahod district.

Kiran Khabad, aged 39, was arrested along with three other accused, including Khabad's nephew, Dilip Chauhan, bringing the total number of arrests to 11. Earlier, on Saturday, the police arrested Kiran's elder brother, Balwant Khabad, aged 43.

Along with Kiran and Chauhan, the police also arrested Parth Baria, the proprietor of N J Enterprise, a firm that supplied material despite not having secured a contract, and Rasik Rathwa, currently the in-charge deputy district development officer (DDO) of Dahod. The offence reveals that N J Enterprise was paid Rs 5.19 crore and is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the scam.

Police also detained another accused, Bhavesh Rathod, assistant programme officer (APO) for MNREGA in Dhanpur taluka, from Mangrol near Surat.

Both Balwant and Kiran are linked to agencies that supplied material for MNREGA works in two talukas of Dahod district, even though they did not qualify as vendors in a bidding process. In total, 32 firms connected with the irregularity were detected in an investigation by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), which registered an offence regarding the scam.

Balwant was linked to the firm Shri Raj Construction Co, while Kiran was linked to Shri Raj Traders. The offence mentions that Shri Raj Traders was paid an amount of Rs 30.04 crore, while Shri Raj Construction Co was paid an amount of Rs 82 lakh. Effectively, the brothers took over 40 per cent of the total amount of the scam.

Dilip Chauhan was an assistant programme officer (APO) for MNREGA in Devgadh Baria and is believed to be a key accused who helped the Khabad brothers in the scam. Rathwa was a taluka development officer (TDO) in Dhanpur at the time of the scam.

Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Dahod division, Jagdish Bhandari, said that Baria was presented in court on Monday, which granted a seven-day remand for his interrogation. "Kiran, Chauhan, and Rathwa will be presented in court on Tuesday," he said.

Sources said that while labour work is done by villagers under the MNREGA scheme, vendors are identified for various construction materials through a bidding process. The material has to be ordered from the lowest bidder, who later furnishes bills, and payments are cleared. The progress of the work on the ground is also checked before disbursement of payments. The offence registered regarding the scam also reveals that large portions of roads were never laid and remained on paper. DRDA conducted an investigation into the works for the years 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 in Devgadh Baria and Dhanpur talukas.