North Maharashtra's Largest Money Diversion Scam

The largest scam in the history of North Maharashtra planned and executed by top government officials and politicians, shook the roots of democracy to its core and left the city dealing with its aftermath. What was the Jalgaon housing scam that led to the arrest of more than 40 government officials and politicians along with a loss of around 150 crores?

Gulabrao Devkar and Suresh Jain | source: India TV News

The Jalgaon Housing Scam, also known as the Jalgaon Gharkul Scam is the largest scam of illegal diversion of money that was supposed to be invested in building subsidy housing for people below the poverty level. It all began from 1995 to 1996 when the Gharkul Scheme was implemented in Maharashtra to build over 11,000 subsidiary houses for rural families. The project was administered by Jalgaon Municipal Corporation and houses were planned to be built on the outskirts of Jalgaon city, in Samatanagar, Tambapura, Shree Hari Vitthalnagr, and Khanderaonagar.

The houses to be built over seven ward areas were initially proposed under the scheme and to implement the plan, tenders were invited by JMC in 1997. However, Suresh Jain, then Shivsena Minister manipulated the invitations and cunningly, handed the tender to Khandesh Builders. Under Khandesh Builders, the responsibility of constructing five thousand houses fell, for which they took a loan of 110 crore rupees from Housing and Urban Development Corporation LTD (HUDC). Additionally, they were granted 11.54 crore from JMC for the project, without any interest.

Jalgaon Housing Scam | Source: The Economic Times

Initially, on a surface level, everything seemed fine and well-executed, however, even after multiple years, Khandesh Builders were unable to build the promised number of houses or even come closer to fulfilling their part of the agreement.

The irregularities first came into view of the IAS Officer, Pravin Gedam, who filed the first FIR against Khandesh Builders. Following that, various shocking revelations came to the surface, such as the plots on which construction was planned were not under the Jalgaon construction, rather they were government lands and some were privately owned. Based on this loophole and various other pieces of evidence and investigation, the FIR was filed against Khandesh Builders, Suresh Jain, Gulabrao Devkar (then a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly), and 91 others on the grounds of forgery and criminal conspiracy.

Other pieces of evidence include, JMC willingly taking no action against Khandesh builders and even providing them with various concessions that were neither required nor justified. Lastly, it was found that the loan money, instead of investing in housing, was diverted into the Jain’s relatives and family accounts. Here comes the biggest plot twist, Khandesh Builders was the company owned by Jain’s two close friends, Jagganath Wani and Raja Mayur and the headquarters of Khandesh Builders was none other than Jain’s residence.

To sum up, Suresh Jain was the mastermind behind the largest North Maharashtra scam and was aided by various other people like Gulbrao Devkar and Chandrakant Sonawane. Since the scam involved various high-profile personalities, it took around six years and numerous transfers of various investigating officers to finally reach the roots of the scam. Suresh Jain, the prime accused was fined rupees 100 crore and a seven-year prison term, whereas Devkar was termed to five-year prison. Additionally, Jain’s friends were fined rupees 40 lakhs each and a seven-year prison term. Shivsena MLA, Chnadrakant Sonawane, another prime accused received five years in prison and a fine of rupees 10 lakhs, and 30 other involved JMC members received five-year prison.