Pre-arrest bail of NREGA embezzlement mastermind rejected

Aurangabad, Dec 23:

Justice Prakash Naik of the Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected the bail application of assistant teacher Dinkar Vasantrao Lavhare, the mastermind in the embezzlement of Rs 17 lakh in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme work from Patti Vadgaon to Fawdewadi (Ambajogai). A pre-arrest bail has been approved to an engineer and a postman in the same case.

The road work from Patti Vadgaon to Fawdewadi was sanctioned during 2014-15. Bhimrao Kamble, Narayan Lavhare, Satyapal Rambhau Waghmare had lodged a complaint with the district collector alleging embezzlement in this work. The inquiry was conducted by a committee of administration. The work was given approval by Ambajogai tehsildar and deputy engineer of the Zilla Parishad works department. The work was done by Lavhare who pretended to be a contractor. Basically, the budget plan made by deputy engineer Milind Chavan was incorrect. Later, Lavhare and Chavan submitted wrong bills, they were assisted by postman Pandit Popale to withdraw the money from the account holders accounts. A case was registered at Bardapur police station on September 16, 2021 on the complaint of Dattatray Sarode, deputy Tehsildar of Ambajogai. The accused's pre-arrest bail application was later rejected by the additional sessions court at Ambajogai. Hence they approached the Aurangabad bench. Adv Sachin B Munde represented the complainant, adv DR Kale represented the government.