Nilesh Baldwal, a director of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Dahod, has been arrested and placed in police custody under charges of being involved in a government land scam.
Baldwal is accused of illegally adding five hectares of government land to his own holdings in the Kalatalai area of Dahod, thereby expanding his total land area to 10 hectares. This illicit activity was uncovered only after a recent investigation, as authorities were unaware of the modification.
According to sources, Baldwal attempted to sell the illegally expanded land to APMC. A partial payment for the fraudulent sale was reportedly made before the scam was discovered. Baldwal was arrested on Monday and presented before a judicial magistrate on Tuesday, where police were granted a three-day remand for further questioning.
In addition to Baldwal’s arrest, two officials — shirastedar Dinesh Parmar and surveyor Rahul Chavda — have been sent to judicial custody for their role in the scam. The duo is accused of manipulating property records by making unauthorized changes to property cards, despite their official duties only involving the digitization of such documents.
Dahod police have been actively investigating a series of property-related irregularities, including forged certificates, land conversions to non-agriculture, fraudulent transfers of tribal-owned land, and the unauthorized addition of government land to private properties. The investigation has led to four separate offences being registered by the police.
