Six officers, including the then Collector of Jhabua and the CEO of the District Panchayat, have been sentenced to four years each for paying an excess of Rs 27.71 lakh for printing material under MNREGA and the overall cleanliness campaign. The Special Lokayukta Court, while giving its verdict on Saturday, held the printers of Bhopal guilty and sentenced them to 7 years. All the seven convicts have been sent to jail for not getting bail. However, the court acquitted the two then officials of the government press.

Meghnagar's printer Rajesh Solanki had complained about the matter to Lokayukta Police Indore on the basis of information received under RTI. In this, it was said that Rs 33.54 lakh was paid to Rahul Printers of Bhopal for the official printing work done between August and November 2008, while this work could have been done for Rs 5.83 lakh.

The accused are Jagdish Sharma, the then Collector: The day the file of the order for printing came, it was approved on the same day. Jagmohan Dhurve, the then CEO, Zip: As soon as the file was received, the approval was sent to the Collector on the same day. Nathu Singh Tanwar, the then Project Officer (Technical) Employment Guarantee Scheme: After approving the file for printing from the government press, sent it to the Senior Accounts Officer and CEO. Amit, the then District Coordinator (now consultant in the cleanliness campaign of Indore Municipal Corporation): The order was sent to Rahul Printers instead of the Government Press.

Sadashiv Davar, the then Senior Accounts Officer, District Panchayat: The file was sent to the CEO the next day. Ashish Kadam, the then Accounts Officer, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, District Panchayat: Rahul presented the bills received by the printers for payment. Mukesh Sharma, owner of Rahul Printers, Bhopal: Completed the printing work and took an additional profit of Rs  27.71 lakhs.

The court acquitted the then government printer and deputy controller of stationery AK Khanduri and Devdutt of all charges. Jagdish Sharma, Jagmohan, Nathusingh and Sadashiv have retired. The question is arising as to why the convicts, who have been senior officers like former Collector and Zip CEO, have not made efforts for bail whereas in most of such cases bail is readily available.

On this the expert said, 'The former officers would not have any idea that they would be punished. This was the reason why he could not make enough efforts to get bail. He said that due to the time taken in court proceedings, preparations for bail may not have been made.

In the year 2010, when Jagdish Sharma was Jhabua Collector, posters and other materials of the cleanliness campaign were printed under MNREGA. The district administration had got this work done by Bhopal firm Rahul Printers instead of Government Press. In return, Rs 33.54 lakh was paid, whereas if the same work had been done through Government Press, it would have been done for only Rs 5,83,891. In this manner the government was defrauded of Rs 27 lakh 70 thousand 725.

The entire matter was sent to Indore Lokayukta for investigation. After confirmation in the investigation, Lokayukta police had made 9 people accused including the then collector of Jhabua, Jagdish Sharma. All of them were prosecuted by filing a complaint in the special court.

After the court's decision, senior Congress leader Arun Yadav targeted the Shivraj government by tweeting. He wrote- The commission fraud that took place during the tenure of BJP is beginning to be exposed. Will soon liberate the people of the state from the 50 percent commission government of BJP.