According Thane Police PRO, Sukhada Narkar an offence under sections 420 and 406 of the IPC has been registered against the accused with Narpoli police station under Bhiwandi division.
Quoting a complaint by a Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation official, police said that nine people had applied for benefits under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan subsidy in 2015 following which an site inspection was carried out and each of the accused were granted funds of Rs 6,000 each totalling Rs 54,000 to build toilets.
Police gave the name of the accused as Rajit Bhimarti, 24, Sudharshan Jakanni, 48, Anjana Dayavat, 67, Jyoti Chavan, 27, Srikrishna Jha, 43, Balayya Gundu, 70, Accalal Kanojia, 38, Rajendra Ghavane, 48, and Nanhelal Gupta, 37, all residents of different localities in Bhiwandi.
Each of the accused was entitled to a subsidy upto Rs 17,000 and had been already granted the first instalment of Rs 6,000 each which they utilised for their own purposes and cheated the government by not constructing toilets.