FIR filed against MEGA manager for siphoning off Rs 2.62 crore

Gandhinagar police today filed an FIR against a former construction manager of the state-owned Metrolink Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad Company Ltd, for allegedly siphoning off Rs 2.62 crore through forged invoices.
A complaint was filed by Gujarat Administrative Service cadre officer Rajesh Mehta at Sector-7 police station of Gandhinagar today on behalf of Metrolink Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA) Company Ltd, an entity formed to lay metro rail project.
In his complaint, Mehta alleged that former MEGA construction manager Radhesh Bhatt, a resident of Gota area, misused his powers and siphoned off Rs 2.62 crore from the company from 2012 to 2013.

MEGA, a Gujarat government public sector undertaking has its registered office at Nirman Bhavan in New Sachivalaya complex of the state capital. The company undertakes the metro rail project to link Ahmedabad with Gandhinagar, the complaint said.
Bhatt managed to take payment of Rs 2.62 crore from MEGA's accounts department when he was its manager between July 2012 and August 2013, by producing forged invoices and certificates, claiming that the company received 603 tonne of TMT steel, the complaint alleged.
However, after a recent audit, it was found that the steel was never delivered to the construction site as claimed by Bhatt. Internal investigation revealed that he allegedly forged documents to take a payment of Rs 2.62 crore, the complaint alleged.

Based on Mehta's complaint today, the police filed an FIR against Bhatt under provisions including Section 409 (breach of trust by public servant), Section 418 (cheating), Section 465 (forgery), Section 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code as well as Section 13(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (criminal misconduct by a public servant).