Job scheme fraud babus live in bungalows

Nimbalkar has a two-storeyed plush bungalow on Bijapur Road. As a clerk, he draws a salary of Rs 5,000-Rs 6,000 a month and his wife says they used to stay in a one-room flat just seven years ago. She quickly adds that she is a primary school teacher — ‘‘and the double income helped us buy this bungalow. We have also taken a loan for it.’’

She insists she has no idea where her husband is but gives us his mobile number which is, of course, switched off.

Durape’s bungalow on Kotgi Road area is fancier. His monthly earning as an agricultural supervisor is around Rs 8,000. The upper storey of the two-storeyed bungalow has been rented out to two local dailies. The ground floor is well-furnished. ‘‘He is not here since the past seven days and he has changed his mobile, so I can’t get in touch with him,’’ his wife says.

Another accused, Swami, who earns less than Rs 5,000 a month, lives at Bhavani Peth in a modest housing society. His father tells us he is in Parbhani.

The indifference of the Solapur Police to these cases — four criminal cases have been lodged against them — has raised many eyebrows. Pune’s Divisional Commissioner, Prabhakar Karandikar, is obviously upset. ‘‘Now that criminal charges have been framed against them, it is for the police to nab them.’’

But Karandikar isn’t surprised. ‘‘I suspected that the police were under instructions to resist a deeper probe, because when we wanted to file the first FIR, the police made such a fuss that it took them an entire night, from 11 p m to 5 a m, to lodge the complaint.’’

Collector Varma, who claims the fraud is just the tip of the iceberg, says there should have been arrests by now.

Solapur Police Commissioner Jagan Nath responds on predictable lines: ‘‘The law does not spare anyone. A special squad has been created and it has conducted raids on the houses of the accused without any positive results. Soon, we will declare them absconders and attach their properties but all this takes time.’’

The case under the Solapur Police Commissionerate has been lodged at the Sadar Bazar Police Station. Nimbalkar has been booked under Sections 467, 468, 471 and 474 (for tampering with signatures and forging documents to start fraudulent work orders). The amount of misappropriation in this case is Rs 3.26 crore. The case was registered on August 1.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Chintamani Shirole, who has been entrusted with the probe, says, ‘‘We have asked for original documents from the revenue department but they have given only photocopies. This is a long process, it will take time.’’

At the Solapur Rural Police Station, three FIRs have been lodged pertaining to misappropriation and fraudulent EGS works at Doddi, Mangalwedha and Nanaj villages. Says Assistant Police Inspector Dinesh Katke, one of the investigating officers: ‘‘We conducted raids on the houses of the accused but we did not find them. We will soon issue a warrant against them.’’

Agricultural staff quit

All the 400-odd agriculture department employees of Solapur district have sent their ‘resignation letters’ to various politicians. They argue that with the ban imposed on EGS work after the fraud came to light, ‘‘genuine people who survive because of the EGS scheme are being deprived’’. But Collector Manisha Varma says she has given instructions that wherever EGS work is necessary, like in Sangola taluka for example, it will begin immediately. ‘‘I have just made the process tighter. This has resulted in total non-cooperation from the employees concerned.’’