AHMEDABAD: A team of state CID (crime) investigating the Rs 113 crore MEGA scam arrested three persons for their involvement siphoning off Rs 10 crore using fake bills. CID officials have also collected bank statements and financial transaction records as evidences in the case.

A senior investigator involved in the probe told TOI that Prakashchandra Patel, proprietor of Shakti Futures, Sandeep Patel, proprietor of Shree Sales Corporation, and Paras Soni, proprietor of P Geriya and Sons, have been arrested on Friday. CID has sought seven-day remand for the trio. Hearing for the same would take place on Monday.

“All three firms have supplied goods and services for the MEGA project. They had given the bills that were approved by the finance department despite having delivered no goods or services. In total, the firms got Rs 10 crore from the project. We have got bank statements and financial transactions that prove the link of these firms in the scam,” said the official.

Officials said that they have started analyzing finances of the MEGA project and are verifying various monetary deals to find discrepancies. They have also not ruled out the possibility of more arrests in near future.

The scam came to light after Karunashankar Mehta, a GAS officer, conducted technical audit in Metro-Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA) for the period April 2011 to August 2013. During the audit, he had found irregularities in the project and had later filed the complaint. During the investigation, CID (crime) had found involvement of former IAS officer Sanjay Gupta in May and had pegged the scam at Rs 113 crore.

As per the complaint, the work orders were issued without tendering process for land-filling in Bhat and Motera when Gupta was executive chairman for MEGA project. The FIR named six ex-managers of MEGA for creating false records for financial gains, making false payments and causing financial loss to the state exchequer.

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