Former GPCC treasurer arrested on cheating charges

Vadodara, Feb 6 (UNI) Former Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee treasurer and noted businessman Anuj Patel was arrested today by the city crime branch police for allegedly siphoning off Rs 45 lakhs of Baroda Productivity Council (BPC) in a controversial land deal.

Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) sleuths arrested Patel from his residence, after a city court issued an arrest warrant against him yesterday.

The DCB investigating into a complaint of criminal breach of trust, lodged by BPC against Patel in August last year, had recently moved the court seeking Patel's arrest warrant.

A former chairman of BPC and its building committee, Patel was accused of selling a 7400 sq ft plot of land at Gorwa, belonging to the council, in a throwaway price of Rs 45.9 lakhs to a couple of city builders and siphoning off the entire amount.

In his complaint, BPC chairman Vipin Chandra Patel said that the council had decided to sell the plot of land, valued at Rs 1.66 crore, in order to finance the construction of BPC's new building. But Patel secretly sold the plot to the builders for Rs 45.9 lakhs and credited the amount in his personal accounts without the knowledge of the council.

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