NCP MLA's nephew held in Thane rice procurement scam dies of heart attack

Thane: An NCP MLA's nephew in jail for alleged involvement in a multi-crore rice procurement scam in Thane died of a heart attack in a Mumbai hospital on Friday morning, a police official said.

The Khadakpada police station official said deceased Harish alias Bhau Daroda, nephew of Shahapur's NCP MLA Daulat Daroda, was lodged in Adharwadi Jail in Kalyan after being arrested on December 9, 2025 and remanded in judicial custody.

"His health deteriorated in jail and he was shifted to state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai, where he died this morning. An accidental death case will be registered in this connection," inspector Maruti Andhale said.

Harish Daroda was booked in a case registered at Kinhavali police station in December 2023 for alleged embezzlement of nearly 5,000 quintals of rice from the Sakadbav procurement centre in Shahapur taluka.

As per police, the scam was part of a larger irregularity unearthed in rice procurement operations of the Adivasi Vikas Mahamandal in Thane district. A probe put the scam at nearly Rs 16 crore, including Rs 1.5 crore linked to the Sakadbav procurement centre in Shahapur taluka.

In the Sakadbav case, police had accused Harish Daroda, who was president of Sakadbav Adivasi Various Executive Cooperative Society, and others of cheating the state government and its Tribal Development Corporation by generating false and bogus invoices in the names of farmers.

He had remained absconding since the case was registered in 2023 before being arrested last month.