ACB files charge-sheet in Gosikhurd irrigation scam

Nagpur, Sep 3: The Anti-Corruption Bureau today filed a charge sheet in a court here against six former officials for alleged fraud and corruption in Vidarbha's Gosikhurd inter-district irrigation project.

The charge sheet, running into around 6,550 pages, was filed before special ACB court of K G Rathi.

It has named six accused -- the then Chief Engineer Sopan Suryawanshi, the then Superintendent Engineer Sanjay Kholapurkar, ex-Executive Engineer Ramesh Wardhane of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC), ex-senior divisional accountant Gurudas Mandavkar, ex-Executive Director VIDC Rohiddas Landge (all retired) and a private contractor Nisar Fateh Mohammd Khatri (Mumbai).

The ACB had booked the five former officials for alleged fraud and following corrupt practices while executing the Ghodajhari canal work in Gosikhurd, thereby causing huge losses to the state exchequer.

ACB's Nagpur Deputy Superintendent Milind Totre, who probed the scam, had lodged a formal complaint with the Sadar police station here on February 23.

A case under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC was registered in this regard, Totre said.

PTI