The state police have arrested Gujarat Congress VP Hira Jotva and his son Digvijay in the Rs 7.3 crore MGNREGA case in Bharuch.
Jotva was arrested late Thursday night, and Digvijay was taken into custody Friday afternoon, after the police claimed the father-son duo were complicit in siphoning off funds from the government treasury under the guise of public works.
The arrests stem from an FIR filed by Assistant MGNREGA Account Officer PU Chaudhary of the Bharuch District Rural Development Authority. The complaint names two Gir-Somnath-based agencies—Veraval’s Jalaram Enterprises, owned by Piyush Nukani, and Murlidhar Enterprises, operated by Jodha Sabhad—for defrauding the government of Rs 7.30 crore by manipulating project tenders and submitting bogus bills for material supply in Amod, Jambusar, and Hansot talukas.
The FIR details the modus operandi: “The irregularity relates to MGNREGA projects… works above Rs 5 lakh can be sanctioned by the Executive Engineer while for under Rs 5 lakh, the Deputy Executive Engineer can sanction the same. As per the complaint… the two agencies contracted to supply material had passed bills in violation of tender conditions…”
As per the police investigation, these agencies not only bypassed tender norms but colluded to forge bills and inflate material costs far beyond permissible MGNREGA guidelines. “The MGNREGA provisions mandatorily require the expenses to be in the ratio of 60:40 in favour of labour and raw material. However, in this case, the accused showed material cost up to 80% of the total amount, which disturbs the ratio and indicates a scam,” Bharuch SP Mayur Chavda said.
Alongside the Jotvas, police also arrested outsourced technical staffer Ramesh Tailor, appointed by the accused agencies to oversee projects. According to SP Chavda, Tailor, who was stationed at the Hansot Taluka Development Officer’s office, created forged documents and bills “at Jotva’s behest.” Chavda added, “He was the one who created the documents used for the misappropriation, including forged bills…”
In a damning revelation, Chavda stated: “We have evidence that Jotva and his son Digvijay were sleeping partners in both the agencies that were contracted in Bharuch and had a direct involvement in the irregularity… We are also probing the money trail as there is direct evidence that Jotvas have used the money that was siphoned off.”
The financial irregularities uncovered are staggering. The FIR notes that in the case of a single village under Jambusar taluka, bills were raised for 128.40 cubic metres of material, while only 28.32 Cum was actually delivered—against a requirement of 103 Cum. Similar discrepancies were uncovered across 56 villages, making up the total scam amount of Rs 7.30 crore. The FIR adds that the scam was executed “in connivance with government officials, contractual MGNREGA officials to snatch away the daily bread of the unemployed persons who stood to benefit… for financial benefit, at the cost of the state government exchequer.”
This explosive development ignited a political war of words. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee Spokesperson Dr Manish Doshi slammed the BJP, calling the arrests a targeted political move: “The story being weaved against Hirabhai Jotva that just because two agency owners are known to him, he is involved in the scam, exposes the two faced approach of the BJP… The state government, on the one hand, has not even initiated an action against its Cabinet Minister Bachubhai Khabad even after both his sons have been arrested in multiple FIRs…”
Doshi defended Jotva’s integrity and claimed, “Jotva has documents to fight his case. He is a powerful leader of the Ahir community in his region… There has been a lot of pressure on him to quit the Congress since a while now but he has not succumbed. This arrest is a result of the vindictive nature of BJP, which wanted him to toe their line. We have full faith in the judiciary and we will fight a legal battle.”
Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders maintained a strategic silence, refusing to comment on the Congress’ allegations. Jotva, one of nine Vice Presidents of the Gujarat Congress, had recently contested—and lost—the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Junagadh, and the 2022 Assembly elections from Keshod. His son Digvijay, notably, was elected just days ago as Sarpanch of Supasi village in Junagadh in the panchayat elections.
Notably, while Jotva, Digvijay, and Tailor have been apprehended, the prime agency operators—Piyush Nukani and Jodha Sabhad—remain absconding. Police confirmed their continued search for the duo, who are believed to be key players in the multi-crore embezzlement.
On Friday evening, following a remand plea by Bharuch police seeking 14-day custody, a local court remanded Hira Jotva and Ramesh Tailor to six days of police custody.
This FIR in Bharuch came hot on the heels of a similar storm in Dahod, where police re-arrested two sons of Gujarat Minister Bachubhai Khabad in connection with three FIRs in an MGNREGA scam totaling over Rs 100 crore—raising serious questions about selective accountability and political shielding in the state’s mounting rural welfare scandals.
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