MP EOW probes Rs 10.99-crore procurement fraud over four firms run by same controller
Madhya Pradesh EOW is investigating an alleged Rs 10.99-crore procurement fraud in which four firms allegedly controlled by one person are accused of rigging a GeM tender.
The Madhya Pradesh Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is investigating an alleged procurement fraud worth about Rs 10.99 crore in the state's Social Justice and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department, according to an FIR in the case.
The case concerns the department's 2024 purchase of computers, printers and UPS equipment. Complaints had flagged irregularities in the procurement, and the EOW's FIR alleges that four private firms were presented as independent bidders in a government e-marketplace (GeM) tender even though they were effectively under the control of a single person.
The four individuals named as proprietors in the FIR are Randhir Kumar Patel, Hemlata Patel, Ashok Kumar Singh and Devendra Singh. The accused have not yet responded to the allegations. Attempts to reach the social justice department for comment were unsuccessful.
According to the FIR, the four firms operated from the same address and were in fact controlled by Randhir Kumar Patel. It alleges that the accused colluded in the tender by creating fabricated competition through forgery, and that the firms qualified alternately in the same tenders and won contracts in favour of one another. Investigators are also said to have found an extremely close pattern in the rates quoted by the four firms.
The EOW's findings rest on an examination of GST records, GeM bid documents, banking information and manufacturer authorisation records. A mobile number recorded in one firm's GST filings and an email address linked to another were allegedly both registered with the same company. A certified Customer Application Form obtained from Reliance Jio for the mobile number is said to have directly established that the number was under Randhir Kumar Patel's personal control.
On this basis, the FIR alleges that four separate firms were fraudulently set up using the same address, mobile number and email domain, with the intention of misappropriating government funds.
The agency has also questioned a cheque submitted by one of the firms as earnest money deposit. Dated October 7, 2024, the cheque did not carry an account number, which the EOW described as proof of a suspicious document and as strengthening its allegation of a planned pattern of forgery and fraud.
A key allegation concerns the equipment itself. Installation screenshots showed the date July 22, 2024, while the actual purchase date was September 23, 2024. The FIR states that this establishes that old and used equipment was deliberately supplied as new, amounting to open fraud against the government.
The FIR further alleges that the accused acted in agreement with one another, repeatedly committing forgery in financial and manufacturer authorisation documents as well as the EMD cheque, obtaining higher rates and causing heavy financial loss to the government through a planned series of acts of forgery and fraud.