Summary:
We arrested Ganeshia when he went to collect the commission on behalf of Sabaria and later arrested the MLA too. Rajkot: Morbi police on Sunday arrested Halvad Congress MLA Parsottam Sabaria for his alleged involvement in the Rs 1.12 crore irrigation scam unearthed last month.Sabaria had received Rs 35 lakh - Rs 10 lakh cash and remaining in cheque - from retired additional engineer Chunilal Kanani (58) and contractor Chaitanya Pandya ( 47) - who usurped Rs 1.12 crore in large number of canal projects. Police said Sabaria had taken money for not raising this corruption issue in the assembly session.Along with the MLA, police also arrested his aide Bharat Ganeshia, who had gone to collect the cash on his behalf. Incidentally, Sabaria’s office was supposed to be inaugurated on Sunday before which he was arrested.Kanani and Pandya, both residents of Rajkot, were arrested last month.“Kanani and Pandya had allegedly apportioned a commission to Sabaria from the money they had siphoned off as it was customary to give an MLA his commission from any government work. We found out that Sabaria had taken Rs 35 lakh from the accused,” said RJ Chaudhary, inspector, Morbi A-division police station.Chaudhary said that they had a taped conversation of Sabaria with the accused which they had taken into record as an evidence.From the 334 projects involving construction and repair of canals and sub-canals, Kanani and Pandya allegedly committed irregularities in 46 projects..