AHMEDABAD: Former home minister of state and ex-chairman of Mehsana District Cooperative Producers Union Ltd (Dudhsagar Dairy) Vipul Chaudhary was arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in a case of alleged financial irregularities worth over Rs 750 crore. He was arrested from his Gandhinagar residence on Wednesday Night.
Vipul Chaudhary, along with his supporters, was running a campaign for the Dudhsagar dairy in the upcoming elections. Chaudhary, a prominent face of Gujarat’s cooperative sector, was home minister in the Shankarsinh Vaghela government in 1996. Chaudhary is also a BJP leader.ACB Joint Director Makarand Chauhan said that Vipul Chaudhary’s tenure was from 2005 to 2016. During this tenure, Vipul Chaudhary has committed more than Rs 750 crore of different scams.
“During his tenure, he procured milk coolers, violating government guidelines and tender conditions, and committed irregularities in procurement. He did construction work worth Rs 485 crore, violating the SOP for construction. He filed a revision petition against the deputy secretary for which the lawyer’s expenses were also borrowed from the Milk Producers’ Union,” he said.
“Apart from this, 31 companies were formed for the amount collected from the scam. These 31 companies were registered on the basis of false documents. His wife and son were also directors in this company,” said ACB. “The district registrar obtained the order of the high court in this whole matter, after which two teams were formed to investigate the case. Both teams recorded 14 points each in this investigation. These 14 issues were handed over to the vigilance officer. The vigilance officer found malpractices,” ACB officials said on Thursday.
In May, a complaint was filed against Chaudhary and his personal secretary for siphoning off dairy & money with ACB Mehsana branch. A case was then registered for criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, ACB said in a statement.