Read why Gujarat Court gives bail to Vipul Chaudhary
A sessions court in Gujarat’s Mehsana postponed the seven-year jail term handed down to former Gujarat minister Vipul Chaudhary, 57, and 14 others in a 2014 cheating case that reportedly resulted in a 22.5 crore loss to a dairy.
Additional district and sessions judge CM Pawar also ordered the release of the 15 people convicted on bail with a bond of 50,000.
The case of Vipul Chaudhary:
Vipul Chaudhary, an important figure in Gujarat’s cooperative sector, was convicted on July 13 along with 14 others of inflicting a loss of 22.5 crore to Mehsana District Milk Producers Federation, widely known as Dudhsagar Dairy, due to its decision to transport fodder to nearby Maharashtra.
“The court suspended the lower court’s sentence and granted bail to Chaudhary and others.” “Chaudhary must surrender his passport and is not permitted to leave the country while the case is pending,” said RN Barot, who represented Chaudhary in the case.
In 2014, Chaudhary offered cow fodder to drought-stricken Maharashtra as chairman of the Dudhsagar Dairy.
The Gujarat government claimed that the decision was made without the permission of the dairy board or the use of a competitive bidding process.
Dudhsagar Dairy, India’s biggest dairy:
Dudhsagar Dairy is India’s largest cooperative dairy, and it is a member of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which sells its goods under the Amul brand name.
Between 2005 to 2016, Chaudhary served as the diary’s chairman.
In 1995, Chaudhary served as a minister in the Keshubhai Patel-led cabinet. In 1996, he supported Shankersinh Vaghela, who rebelled against Patel and formed the government with the backing of Congress.
Chaudhary was also a minister in the Vaghela cabinet. In 2001, Chaudhary rejoined the Bharatiya Janata Party, and in 2022, he created a socio-political group.
In September of last year, Gujarat’s anti-corruption unit arrested Chaudhary. During the trial, the testimony of 23 witnesses, including Congress politician Arjun Modhwadia and former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela, was heard.
Other accused of the case:
Investigators nominated 22 suspects in the case; however, only 19 were tried due to the deaths of three defendants.
YR Agrawal, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Mehsana, found Chaudhary and 14 others guilty of cheating under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentenced them to seven years. Due to a lack of evidence, four of the defendants were acquitted.
The other 14 defendants included former Dudhsagar Dairy board members, former vice chairperson Jalaben Thakor and former managing director Nishith Baxi.
Judgement by the Trial court:
“Given the seriousness of the crime in this case, the accused, intending to defraud, have caused significant financial loss to the stakeholders of Dudhsagar dairy and cattle farmers.”
Furthermore, given the nature of the crime, sending them to prison for a short period will not serve the objective of the law,” the trial court stated in its 251-page judgement on July 13.
Chaudhary was removed as chairman of GCMMF in December 2013 following a no-confidence vote by the federation’s majority directors, who accused him of financial irregularities at Mehsana Milk Union.
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