MGNREGA fraud worth Rs 3 cr unearthed in Gujarat's Amreli; 4 booked

Four officers working for MGNREGA department have been booked for siphoning Rs 3.30 crore from the government's treasury in Gujarat's Amreli district.

From 2015-2019, the accused created duplicate job cards, opened accounts in other banks on job card holders' names, created fake documents of beneficiaries, made payments into these accounts and later withdrew the money.

The accused were identified as Assistant programme officer Shaktisinh Jadeja, Assistant Account Officer Vimalsinh Basan, MIS coordinator Jignesh Vadia and technical assistant Ashwin Shiyal.

On Tuesday evening, Taluka Development Officer Vijay Sonagra in his complaint said: "Comptroller Auditor General's December 2021 audit report had noted that more than Rs 3 crore payment is made to third party.

Taking serious note of audit report, Amreli Rural Development Agency's Director in September 2022 ordered Taluka Development Officer to investigate it. After three months of investigation, he submitted a report to the Director in the first week of December."

From the investigation, Sonagra found that from 2015-16 till 2018-19, total Rs 3,30,26,548 crore payment was made to third parties through 28,688 transactions, the money were transferred in 3,310 accounts to 4900 job card holders of 36 villages.

The accused have been booked for cheating, criminal breach, forgery and hatching conspiracy with common intent.

--IANS

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