Ritika
A court in Gujarat’s Mehsana on Friday sent former state home minister Vipul Chaudhary to police custody for seven days. Vipul Choudhary was arrested during his tenure as the chairman of Dudhsagar Dairy for alleged financial irregularities of Rs 800 crore.
Chaudhary was arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday. The ACB today requested the court to send Chaudhary to police custody for 14 days on various grounds. After hearing the arguments of both the defense and prosecution sides, Additional District and Sessions Judge A.L. Vyas accepted the seven-day police custody of the former minister.
CA also sent to ACB custody
Along with Chaudhary, the court also sent his chartered accountant Shailesh Parikh to the custody of the ACB for a week. Choudhary is the president of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the famous Amul brand. He has also been the head of Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited. It is also known as Dudhsagar Dairy.
The Mehsana unit of ACB had on Wednesday registered an FIR against Choudhary and others for their involvement in financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 800 crore when he was the head of Dudhsagar Dairy.
The probe agency alleged that apart from making money through financial irregularities, the former minister had also committed money laundering by putting the proceeds of crime in the bank accounts of 31 companies during his tenure as the chairman of Dudhsagar Dairy. These companies were created for this very clear purpose.
Wife and son also named in FIR
According to the ACB, Vipul Chaudhary’s wife Geetaben and son Pawan have also been shown as co-accused in the FIR as they are directors in some companies promoted by them.
The bureau says that Choudhary abused his position when he was the chairman of the dairy and neglected procedures in procuring a large number of milk coolers and bags, sanctioning the construction of Rs 485 crore and contracting for the dairy’s outdoor publicity campaign. The tender route was not followed while awarding.
The ACB said that in order to make his black money appear legitimate, Choudhary formed 31 companies on the basis of forged documents and put the proceeds of crime in them. Chaudhary is a well-known face of the cooperative sector in Gujarat. He was the Home Minister in the Shankarsinh Vaghela government in 1996.
