Fake government office in Gujarat swindled over Rs 4.15 crore govt funds in three years, two held

Ahmedabad: Nearly three years after he set up a fake government office and swindled over Rs4 crore government funds, the local administration in Gujarat's tribal dominated Chhota Udepur district on Friday arrested a person for posing as "executive engineer" on charges of forgery.  

The local police on Friday arrested Sandip Rajput who posed as "executive engineer" attached to the irrigation department in Bodeli in the district. Police said that Rajput set up an office in the name of Executive Engineer, Irrigation Project Division, Bodelhi on July 21, 2021 and kept working until October 25, 2023, the day when local officials got a hint of his scam. 

Police said that Rajput posed as an executive engineer and forged documents, signatures and many records to claim as government officer. Over the period, the FIR stated, he received 93 government projects for which he gleaned funds to the tune of Rs 4,15,54,915.

The FIR was filed on the basis of a written complaint of Javed Maknojiya who works as Junior clerk in the administrative office of the district collectorate. The FIR stated that on October 25, during a meeting chaired by district collector Sachin Kumar discussions were held about the application seeking funds.

The FIR states that when applications seeking Rs 3.78 crore for 12 works under border village irrigation and lift irrigation schemes were discussed, the officials realised that there was no office of executive engineer located at Bodeli. Subsequently, the collector initiated an inquiry and sought details of projects the Bodeli office handled and funds it received.

The FIR stated that from July 2021 till October 25, Rajput had received government funds to the tune of Rs 4,15,54,915.

AC Parmar, police inspector, Chhota Udepur police station told reporters that the FIR was registered on October 26. He said that apart from Rajput, his accomplice Abubakar Saiyed has also been arrested. Saiyed is also a local contractor.

This is the first time that huge amount of money is alleged to have been swindled by creating fake government office. Over the last one year, the state has seen several instances of cheating by people posing as officers from Prime Minister Officer or Chief Minister Office in the state.

Some of them included Kiran Patel, who was first arrested by Jammu and Kashmir police and then by Ahmedabad police for posing as a high ranking officer from PMO. Besides, the police have arrested many others including Viraj Patel, Nikunj Patel and Lavkush Patel for posing as officers from CMO.