The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Chhota Udepur district police, which is investigating the Rs 21.15 crore alleged fraud in the Bodeli bogus government office case, on Tuesday filed a 3,431-page chargesheet in the trial court. A statement from the Chhota Udepur district police said that the present chargesheet would be “the largest filed by the police in any investigation”, ever since the district was carved in 2013.
The 3,431-page chargesheet comprises 83 panchnamas and statements of 587 witnesses in the case. The SIT has booked and arrested 11 persons so far. Police said that the chargesheet also includes documentary evidence, forensic evidence as well as “evidence from human source”.
The bogus government office under the name ‘Irrigation Project Division’ in Bodeli taluka of the tribal district was allegedly run by conman Sandeep Rajput, who posed as an Executive Engineer, in connivance with a government contractor and key conspirator Abu Bakr Saiyyed and IAS officer BD Ninama, said officials. All three were also arrested by the Dahod police for allegedly running a similar racket in the district and siphoning off government funds from the tribal sub-plan to the tune of Rs 18 crore.
Rajput allegedly posed as the Executive Engineer using forged signatures and a government department seal to secure a government grant, assisted by 10 others.
The alleged scam was unearthed when current Project Administrator, IAS-officer Sachin Kumar raised a query about 12 “pending irrigation proposals” with the bonafide government officers of the department on October 25 this year.
The FIR lodged on October 26 by Javid Ibrahim Mankojiya, a junior clerk of the Project Administrator’s office seeking a probe into the alleged scam worth Rs 4 crore, stated, “It appears to be a conspiracy hatched in connivance with the former and /or some current officers/employees of our department to extract financial benefit for personal interest while causing a loss to the state treasury…”. It added that the proposals of the bogus irrigation officer were also approved by the former Project Administrator VC Gamit. Both Mankojiya and VC Gamit are among the 11 arrested by the Chhota Udepur SIT.
On December 19, the Chhota Udepur SIT arrested BD Ninama, who had first been arrested by the Dahod police in the bogus office investigation in Dahod.
The SIT said that the scam had been going on in Bodeli since 2016 and the estimated figure of siphoned funds was Rs 21,15 crore, instead of Rs 4 crore. The SIT said it had been able to recover over Rs 3 crore of the siphoned funds from various bank accounts used by the accused in their chain of transactions.
All accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 170 (pretending to hold any particular office as public servant and act in such assumed character), 419 (cheating by personation), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of a valuable security), 468 (committing forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using a forged document as genuine), 472 (Making or possessing counterfeit seal with intent to commit forgery), 474 (possession of forged documents shown as genuine) and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy).
