Gujarat Conman Sets Up 'Fake Govt Office', Arrested After Getting Rs 4 Crore Grants Since 2021

In a rather bizarre incident, the Gujarat Police have arrested a conman who swindled off around Rs 4 crores in government funds while posing as a bureaucrat.

The accused, identified as Sandeep Rajput, and his accomplice, Abu-Bakr Saiyyad, were arrested from Gujarat's Chhota Udepur district on Friday.

Gujarat Police

When did the scam start?

According to the Police, Rajput was posing as an "executive engineer" with the Irrigation Project Division and in 2021, he had set up an 'office' in Bodeli taluka of the tribal district.

Rajput was 'working' there until October 25, 2023, the day when local officials got a hint of his scam.

How the scam was pulled off

Police said that he used fake documents, forged seals and signatures to avail government grants worth more than Rs 4 crore.

BCCL/ Representational Image

The payments were made in the name of 'Executive Engineer, Irrigation Project Division, Bodeli', a position that did not exist.

Despite this, between July 2021 and October 2023, Rajput and his accomplice, Saiyyad, a government contractor, managed to get a total of Rs 4,15,54,915 (Rs 4.16 crore) as government grants for 93 projects.

The amounts were approved by the office of the former project administrator of the district without verifying them.

Why the accused got busted

The scam came to light on October 25 during a district-level review meeting that discussed the approval for applications seeking Rs 3.78 crore for works under border village irrigation and lift irrigation schemes.

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The funds were sought in the name of 12 irrigation projects in 2023-24.

Only then did officials realise that there was no Executive Engineer of the Irrigation Project Division in Bodeli.

Following this, an FIR was lodged on October 26 by Javid Ibrahim Mankojiya, a junior clerk of the project administrator's office of Chhota Udepur district.

What the FIR said

According to the FIR, 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 the funds it received.

Based on the complaint, Rajput and Saiyyad were arrested on Friday.

BCCL

The accused have been booked under 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) of the Indian Penal Code.

The FIR further hints at the involvement of former or some current officers from the same department in the elaborate scam.

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