Rs 1 crore siphoned off from 68-year-old coop society

Rajkot: Four persons including the secretary of a 68-year-old cooperative society have been booked for allegedly siphoning off Rs 1.2 crore of government’s fertilizer subsidy.
The scam was unearthed during the audit of the cooperative society in Vankia village near Dhrol in Jamnagar district last December.
The accused were given time to repay the stolen money, but as they did not do so, a complaint was lodged by the society’s president Devkaran Bhalodiya.
The society has four godowns to store and distribute fertilizer to farmers in Vankia and two other adjoining villages. The accused include secretary Rajnikant Mehta, the godown keepers Karsan JIvani, Karsan Dalsaniya and Naran Bhalodiya.
While Mehta allegedly siphoned off Rs 82 lakh, Jivani, Dalsaniya and Bhalodiya embezzled Rs 35 lakh, Rs 13 lakh and Rs 12 lakh, respectively. They were supposed to deposit this subsidy amount in the bank account of the cooperative society, Dhrol police station sources said.
After the audit was done, Mehta mysteriously quit job, which raised suspicion of other office bearers. All four have been booked under section IPC 408 and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent).