Ex-home minister Vipul Chaudhary sentenced to seven years in jail in Sagardan Scam
Chargesheet of 21,000 pages submitted against Vipul Chaudhary in Sagardan scam
Shankersinh Vaghela and Arjun Modhwadia were issued summonses to appear as witnesses
Updated: Jul 13th, 2023
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| Vipul Chaudhary |
Former home minister of state and ex-chairman of Mehsana District Cooperative Producers Union Ltd (Dudhsagar Dairy) Vipul Chaudhary has been found guilty in a judgement passed by the Mehsana court in the Sagardan scam case today.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Mehsana, Y R Agrawal, convicted Chaudhary and 14 others for cheating under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 420 and awarded a jail term of seven years.
Chaudhary is the former chairman of the Amul brand which is under the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF). While, the Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd is popularly known as Dudhsagar Dairy. Chaudhary has been sentenced in a case of cheating and causing a loss of ₹22.5 cr to Dudhsagar Dairy in 2014 by supplying cattle feed (sagardan) to Maharashtra without following proper procedures.
A 21,000 page long chargesheet was filed against Chaudhary. 19 accused in this case have been found guilty. There were a total of 22 accused in this case, of whom three have passed away. A complaint was filed in 2014, which included Vipul Chaudhary as one of the accused.
15 accused sentenced to seven years including Vipul Chaudhary
Out of the 19 accused present in this case, 15 have been convicted and sentenced to seven years, while three have not been punished owing to benefit of doubt. Apart from Chaudhary, former MD Nishith Bakshi, former executive director PR Patel, former account head Rashmikant Modi, and former vice chairman Jalaben Thakor have been sentenced in this case. Chaudhary can be arrested any time if no action is taken to stay the sentence.
Shankersinh Vaghela and Arjun Modhwadia witnesses in this case
The Dudhsagar dairy’s Sagardan scam case was being heard in the Mehsana court. Last year, summonses were issued to Congress leaders Shankersinh Vaghela and Arjun Modhwadia to appear as witnesses in this case. Vaghela and Modhwadia were the ones to write a recommendation letter for Vipul Chaudhary to be made the Chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). Chaudhary sent sagardan (cattle feed) to Maharashtra around the same time Vaghela and Modhwadia wrote the letters of recommendation.
Vipul Chaudhary arrested after six years
Vipul Chaudhary has been accused of giving donations to become the chairman of NDDB. Chaudhary was arrested by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) from his bungalow in Gandhinagar in a corruption case. He is also accused of transferring ₹800 cr by creating 17 bogus companies. The Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested Chaudhary on grounds of paying an incentive bonus worth crores and then availing 80% of the amount back to invest it in jewellery.
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