Vipul Chaudhary, ex-home minister among 15 convicted for cheating Amul
The court also held the 15 guilty for the offences of criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, forgery and abetment. The court, however, acquitted four other accused of all charges.
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A Mehsana magistrate court on Thursday sentenced Vipul Chaudhary, a former home minister and former chairman of Dudhsagar Dairy, as well as 14 others to seven years of imprisonment after holding them guilty for cheating and dishonesty. The court also held the 15 guilty for the offences of criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, forgery and abetment. The court, however, acquitted four other accused of all charges.
The 14 others who have been found guilty include former board members of Dudhsagar Dairy.
In all, 22 accused were chargesheeted in the case, of whom three were abated from the trial following their demise during the pendency. They are Baldevbhai Jesangbhai Chaudhari, Velajibhai Kesharbhai Chaudhari and Joitabhai Savajibhai Chaudhari.
³Four others – Prabhatbhai Khodabhai Desai, Dr Bipinchandra Mohanlal Patel, Pravinkumar Baladevchandra Bhambi and Akshaykumar Kunhbihari Shah – were acquitted of all charges.
Defence lawyer Rajendrabhai Narottamdas Barot said that the 15 convicted by Additional Magistrate Y R Agrawal are now lodged at a jail in Mehsana. “We will appeal against this verdict and also file for bail tomorrow at the Mehsana sessions court. The magistrate court has primarily held in its 251-page verdict that the 15 accused are guilty of causing the dairy a loss of Rs 22.5 crore.” More than 20 prosecution witnesses were examined during the trial, he added.
Apart from the seven year sentence, the 15 have also been imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each, said Barot. He added that of the 15 convicted, while Nishith Baxi was the former managing director of Dudhsagar, Rashmikant Modi was the former chief of finance and the remaining 13 were directors of Dudhsagar Dairy.
In 2014, an FIR was registered by Mehsana City B division police station and a chargesheet was filed the same year.
It was alleged that Chaudhary, who was then also the chairman of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) – better known as Amul – and Dudhsagar dairy in Mehsana had decided to supply 22.5 metric tonne of cattle feed worth Rs 22 crore for free to drought-hit areas in Maharashtra.
The Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, which runs Dudhsagar Dairy, is one of the 18 unions that are part of the umbrella body GCMMF.
The verdict will impact Chaudhary in other pending criminal cases, including in an FIR registered at CID Gandhinagar on December 11, 2020, for allegedly causing a loss of nearly Rs 22.5 crore to Dudhsagar Dairy.
It has been alleged that Chaudhary fraudulently received Rs 14 crore from 1,932 dairy employees through a bonus issuance scam.
The offence allegedly took place between July 29, 2019 and October 31, 2019. It has been alleged that after Chaudhary was directed to repay the loss caused by the cattle feed scam, he hatched a criminal conspiracy for the bonus scam to siphon funds from Dudhsagar Dairy to GCMMF.
Apart from Vipul Chaudhary, others convicted in the case are Rashmikant Modi, Nishith Baxi, Jalaben Khegarbhai Desai, Chandrikant Chandubhai Patel, Jebarben Panchabhai Rabari, Jayantibhai Giradharbhai Patel, Karashanbhai Harajibhai Rabari, Jethaji Bhavanji Thakor, Virendrasinh Krushnsinh Thakor, Isvarbhai Joitaram Patel, Bhagavanbhai Narasangbhai Chaudhari, Dineshbhai Dalajibhai Chaudhari, Isvarbhai Prabhudas Patel and Prathamesh Rameshbhai Patel.
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