In a case where corruption has been buried six feet under the ground for more than eight years, the Gujarat Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday arrested three former members of the gram panchayat for embezzling money allocated for garbage removal and causing. a loss of Rs 8.51 lakh to the state exchequer.
Field Inspector AR Saxena of Surat ACB arrested former sarpanch Neeta Rakesh Tandel, former deputy sarpanch Rakesh Uka Tandel and talati-cum-mantri Bipinkumar Savji Galthariya, all from gram panchayat of Machhiwad Onjal in Navsari.
The arrest was based on an FIR filed by Inspector BD Rathwa of ACB police station Navsari on behalf of the Gujarat government. This is based on a complaint received in early 2019.
The ACB statement said that the three suspects are involved in the creation of a crime with the same intention and assisted each other in the reckless use and abuse of their power, by installing a short pipe line, and using pipes with a narrow belt, thus deceiving the government.
This corruption took place under the 13th finance commission’s anti-dumping scheme in 2015-16.
The length of the gutter system with pipes and manholes was supposed to be 1,553 meters but at the end of the work, it was reduced to 1,080 meters, thus illegally shortened by 474 meters, the ACB said.
The ACB further said that the accused made fake bills in the name of the contractor, used a check written in the name of the contractor, and withdrew the money, which caused a loss of Rs 8,51,946.10 to the government fund.
All the three accused were booked under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Investigator BD Rathwa said various documents, scheme details, audits conducted by the zilla panchayat and the housing department, and financial books such as bills point to irregularities and fund losses.
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