Former Amul President Vipul Chaudhary arrested in embezzlement case of Rs 14.8 crore

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Ahmedabad: Vipul Chaudhary, former president of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) has been arrested for his alleged role in a 14.8 million rupee embezzlement case involving bonuses to employees of a dairy entity based in Mehsana to whom he was connected, police said Sunday.

Chaudhary was arrested in Gandhinagar on Saturday for allegedly embezzling Rs 14.8 crore that was intended to give a bonus to employees of the Dudhasagar Dairy cooperative in Mehsana, of which he was former president, said a state official from the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) .

An FIR was filed against Chaudhary and others, including Dudhsagar President Ashaben Thakor, Vice President Modhjibhai Patel and Managing Director NJ Bakshi, at the CID Crime Police Station in Gandhinagar, the CID said in a statement.

They were registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act for breach of trust and criminal conspiracy, among other crimes, he added.

Chaudhary was fired in the past as chairman of GCMMF and Dudhsagar Dairy for an alleged scam that provided free livestock feed to the Maharashtra government, resulting in a loss of Rs 22.5 million.

In 2018, a court had ordered Chaudhary to deposit 40 percent of Rs 22.5 crore, or more than Rs 9 crore, at Dudhsagar Dairy by October 2019.

To accumulate this amount, Chaudhary and other defendants allegedly hatched a conspiracy and abused their financial authority to involve 30 officials to divert Rs 14.8 crore allocated as a bonus for 1,932 Dudhsagar employees, the CID alleged.