Over a month after an FIR was filed against two Gir-Somnath based agencies in connection with an alleged MGNREGA scam of Rs 7.3 crore in Bharuch district, the district police on Thursday night arrested Gujarat Congress Vice President Hira Jotva and his son Digvijay on Friday afternoon for allegedly siphoning off the funds from government treasury.
An outsourced technical staff, Ramesh Tailor, was also arrested for his alleged “involvement” in the case.
The arrest triggered a political slugfest with the Gujarat unit of Congress slamming the “vindictive nature of BJP” even as the latter refused to react to the Opposition’s remarks.
The Bharuch district police, which had summoned Jotva and brought him to the district late on Thursday night, said that evidence pointed at Jotva and Digvijay being partners in both firms and “having used the siphoned funds” from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme.
Bharuch district Superintendent of Police Mayur Chavda told The Indian Express, “We have evidence that Jotva and his son Digvijay were sleeping partners in both the agencies that were contracted in Bharuch and had a direct involvement in the irregularity, being investigated. We are also probing the money trail as there is direct evidence that Jotvas have used the money that was siphoned off… Hira Jotva was brought to Bharuch and arrested late on Thursday night while Digvijay was arrested on Friday.”
The FIR in connection with the case was lodged by the Assistant MGNREGA account officer PU Chaudhary of the Bharuch District Rural Development Authority.
According to the FIR, the agencies — Veraval-based Jalaram Enterprises, owned by Piyush Nukani and Murlidhar Enterprises by Jodha Sabhad — defrauded the state government of Rs 7.30 crore.
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The FIR states, “The irregularity relates to MGNREGA projects in Amod, Jambusar, and Hansot talukas of the district… As per the process, e-tendering was undertaken to procure materials… As per the provisions, works above Rs 5 lakh can be sanctioned by the Executive Engineer while for under Rs 5 lakh, the Deputy Executive Engineer can sanction the same. As per the complaint received from an infrastructure company, the two agencies contracted to supply material had passed bills in violation of tender conditions…”
The arrest of Jotva, Digvijay and Tailor is the first in the case as Nukani and Sabhad are “on the run”, police said.
Chavda added that the two agencies, as per the procedure under MGNREGA, had appointed an outsourced technical assistant, Ramesh Tailor, who was stationed at the office of the Taluka Development Officer (TDO) of Hansot taluka and created forged documents at Jotva’s behest.
Inflated bills, hike in material cost
Chavda said, “Ramesh Tailor was appointed as the outsourced technical assistant at the office of the TDO by the two contracted agencies… He was the one who created the documents used for the misappropriation, including forged bills… The MGNREGA provisions mandatorily require the expenses to be in the ratio of 60:40 in favour of labour and raw material. However, in this case, the accused showed material cost up to 80% of the total amount, which disturbs the ratio and indicates a scam.”
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Chavda added that apart from inflated bills, the agencies also showed completed works to embezzle funds, which did not exist on the ground. Both Chavda and Tailor will be produced in court on Friday evening.
Reacting to Jotva’s arrest, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee Spokesperson Dr Manish Doshi told The Indian Express, “The story being weaved against Hirabhai Jotva that just because two agency owners are known to him, he is involved in the scam, exposes the two faced approach of the BJP… The state government, on the one hand, has not even initiated an action against its Cabinet Minister Bachubhai Khabad even after both his sons have been arrested in multiple FIRs for alleged MGNREGA scams but Jotva is arrested just for being acquainted with the agencies…”
Doshi said, “Jotva has documents to fight his case. He is a powerful leader of the Ahir community in his region… There has been a lot of pressure on him to quit the Congress since a while now but he has not succumbed. This arrest is a result of the vindictive nature of BJP, which wanted him to toe their line. We have full faith in the judiciary and we will fight a legal battle.”
Senior BJP leaders refused to comment on the Congress’ stand in the issue. Jotva, who is among the nine Vice Presidents of Gujarat Congress, had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 from Junagadh and also the Keshod Assembly Constituency in the Gujarat Assembly polls of 2022. His son Digvijay was on Wednesday elected as Sarpanch of Supasi village in Junagadh, in the recently concluded panchayat elections in Gujarat.
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The FIR states that following a detailed investigation into the complaint, it was found that in works of building roads in villages of Jambusar, Amod and Hansot talukas, inflated bills of material supply were presented while only a small amount of material was used. “The bills put forth from Jambusar were for 128.40 cubic metres of material, while the actual material used was 28.32 cubic metre (Cum) against the stipulated use of 103 Cum…” the FIR states.
Similar discrepancies, worth Rs 7.30 crore were also discovered in 56 villages. The FIR states that the scam was carried out “in connivance” with the government officials, contractual MGNREGA officials to “snatch away the daily bread of the unemployed persons who stood to benefit from the MGNREGA projects” as well as “for financial benefit, at the cost of the state government exchequer.”
On Friday evening, a local court in Bharuch sent Hira Jotva and Tailor to six days in police custody, following a remand application moved by the Bharuch district police seeking custody of the accused for 14 days.
The Bharuch district FIR had come just a week after the Dahod district police had re-arrested two sons of Gujarat Minister of State for Panchayat and Agriculture, Bachubhai Khabad in one common and two separate FIRs lodged in Dahod B-Division police station to probe a total MGNREGA scam of over Rs 100 crore.
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