Sagathiya’s brother is ACB’s key witness in graft case

Rajkot: Dilip Sagathiya, brother of suspended town planning officer (TPO) Mansukh Sagathiya, arrested in connection with the TRP Game Zone fire case, has become a key witness for the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) probing the disproportionate assets case against the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) official.
Mansukh Sagathiya is among the five RMC officers arrested in the grisly TRP Game Zone fire on May 25 in which 27 people were roasted alive.His legal income during his tenure with RMC was Rs 2.57 crore, but the properties and valuables found in his possession have been valued at Rs 29 crore, indicating disproportionate assets of 1,128%.
On Monday, Sagathiya was sent to jail after his ACB custody ended. A local court here had granted the ACB permission for custodial interrogation after cash and jewellery worth Rs 18 crore were found from his office in the Twin Star building near Nana Mava on 150-feet road last week.
According to sources, Sagathiya’s brother Dilip was cooperating with ACB in finding the unaccounted cash and valuables that belonged to his brother. He has also been named as a key witness by the ACB.
Sources added that Dilip told ACB that though he was an owner of the office in the Twin Star building on paper, his brother had had possession from the day he purchased it in 2020. Dilip had become incommunicado after Sagathiya’s arrest, but the ACB traced and convinced him to become a witness in the case.
According to the sources, the ACB sleuths were cross-verifying Sagathiya’s statement and scrutinising his bank transactions for past years. The agency also inquired with various jewellers about the payments made by Sagathiya for the gold found in his office. The agency had seized gold biscuits and jewellery worth Rs 15 crore during the raid in his office last week.
The corruption watchdog has also found that besides the cash and valuables, Sagathiya also owned petrol pumps, agriculture land, and other immovable properties registered in the name of his spouse, son and daughter.