Bharuch NREGA scam investigators detain Gujarat Congress VP

Surat: Gujarat Congress vice-president Hira Jotva was detained by a Bharuch police team investigating the Rs. 7.3 crore NREGA scam. The Bharuch superintendent of police formed a 10-member SIT under a deputy superintendent of police. According to sources, the SIT found that both agencies involved in the scam had links with Jotva. Police may arrest Jotva on Friday if he is found to be involved in the scam. The scam affected 56 villages in Hansot, Amod and Jambusar talukas of Bharuch where two agencies were entrusted with contracts for road and other construction works under the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREGA) scheme. The agencies siphoned off money with the help of local officials by submitting forged bills. They also did not use the materials specified by the govt in the standard operating procedure (SOP). Both agencies involved bore the address of Supasi village, which is Jotva's village. On Thursday morning, Bharuch LCB police reached the office of Jotva at Supasi village in Gir-Somnath district's Veraval taluka. They detained him and left for Bharuch to question him. "We had booked Piyush Ratilal Nukani, the proprietor of Jalaram Enterprise and Jodha Naran Sabhad, the owner of Murlidhar Enterprise in the Rs. 7.3 crore MNREGA scam. We suspect these accused are just faces and the agencies were operated by Jotva. We will question him over his role in the agencies and may arrest him if he cannot answer our questions satisfactorily," said an officer. Jotva is a senior Congress leader and is a vice-president in the Gujarat Congress. He contested the Junagadh Lok Sabha seat against BJP's Rajesh Chudasama in 2024 and lost. He served as sarpanch of Supasi village from 1991 to 2004. In 2023, he also contested elections from Keshod but lost. He has served at various posts in the Congress since 1995.