Bharuch: In a significant development in the ₹7.3 crore MGNREGA scam case, a local court in Bharuch on Friday evening remanded Gujarat Congress Vice President Hira Jotva and outsourced technical assistant Ramesh Tailor to six days of police custody. This comes a day after Jotva was detained late Thursday night and formally arrested on Friday, along with his son Digvijay Jotva, who was also taken into custody the same afternoon.

The arrests follow an FIR registered over a month ago, alleging large-scale financial irregularities in material procurement under MGNREGA projects across Bharuch’s Jambusar, Amod, and Hansot talukas. According to police, Jotva and his son were allegedly “sleeping partners” in two Gir-Somnath-based agencies — Jalaram Enterprises and Murlidhar Enterprises — accused of inflating bills and misappropriating funds meant for rural employment.

Bharuch SP Mayur Chavda said that the Jotvas not only had a financial stake in these firms but also benefited directly from the misused government funds. The scam also involved the submission of forged bills and inflated material quantities, with just a fraction of the listed resources actually used on the ground.

Ramesh Tailor, a technical assistant appointed by the agencies, was also arrested for allegedly fabricating documents and bills to facilitate the fraud. Tailor was stationed at the Hansot Taluka Development Office and is believed to have operated under the Jotvas’ direction.

Digvijay Jotva, recently elected Sarpanch of Supasi village, and Hira Jotva, a prominent Ahir community leader and former Lok Sabha candidate from Junagadh, have both come under political spotlight. The Congress has termed the arrests “politically motivated”, accusing the BJP of targeting opposition leaders while protecting its own.

Today, the police also arrested the prime accused, agency owners Piyush Nukani and Jodha Sabhad, who had been absconding. Authorities are continuing to probe the money trail and collusion with officials, as the FIR suggests the scam involved forged approvals, violations of tender conditions, and manipulation of the mandatory labour-to-material expenditure ratio set by MGNREGA.

This case follows another major MGNREGA scam probe in Dahod district involving the sons of BJP Minister Bachubhai Khabad, pointing to a growing web of rural employment scheme frauds across Gujarat. DeshGujarat