Gujarat police book 3 political parties in Rs 1,870-crore donation scam

THE GUJARAT Police have registered three cases against Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) on the basis of complaints from the Income Tax (I-T) department, alleging a Rs 560-crore loss to the exchequer through purported bogus donations of nearly Rs 1,870 crore in total. The FIRs name four persons linked to the Bharatiya National Janata Dal (BNJD), three persons associated with the Swatantrata Abhivyakti Party and eight persons linked to the Garib Kalyan Party, in addition to the three political parties themselves as accused.

The largest of the three cases concerns the BNJD, which, as per the specific FIR, received Rs 1,143.85 crore from 56,238 donors, with an alleged tax loss of nearly Rs 343 crore; the Swatantrata Abhivyakti Party (SAP) allegedly received Rs 519 crore, causing a Rs 155-crore loss, while the Garib Kalyan Party allegedly received Rs 206.76 crore, leading to an alleged loss of around Rs 62 crore.

The three RUPPs have been participating in elections in Gujarat since 2017 even though their candidates forfeited deposits, Election Commission (EC) data shows.

A senior Gujarat Police officer told The Indian Express on Saturday that the FIRs are based on four complaints filed by I-T department officials accusing the parties of seeking dummy donations from shell firms and cash-backs after deducting commissions to evade tax by submitting fake documents with digital signatures to the EC.

The CID Crime, Gandhinagar Zone, registered the FIRs on Friday (September 25), under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita dealing with cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery and use of forged documents.

As per the IT-department’s complaint – based on scrutiny and investigations that lasted over a year, as per the Gujarat police, the parties are alleged to have rerouted political donations to donors for a 4 to 6 per cent commission and have caused a total estimated loss of more than Rs 560 crore to the exchequer.

The FIR against SAP has named the office-bearers of the party as one Mehul Kumar Kumar Maheshkumar Khatri, Surendrasinh Parshottamdas Tiwari and chartered accountant Mukundbhai Chandansinh Rathod.

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According to the FIR, the party collected donations from taxpayers through cheques or RTGS issuing receipts that enabled the donors to claim a 100 per cent deduction under Section 80GGC of the Income Tax Act. This provision exempts donations to registered political parties from income tax.

The FIR alleges that after deducting the commission  from the donation money, the accused political party returned the  remaining amount to the original donors in cash after going through several layers of shell firms or bogus entities.

According to the police officer, the I-T department has alleged  this party  “had no genuine political activity and was simply being used as a vehicle to collect commissions by rerouting the money back to the donors”. The FIR alleges that fake contribution reports and other financial records were prepared and digitally signed and “such reports were submitted before the Election Commission.”

In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, SAP fielded Pramod Sahdevbhai Gudade from Ahmedabad East, Anilbhai Narendrabhai Chavda from Bhavnagar and Pravinbhai Ishvarbhai Chauhan from Banaskantha. In the 2022 Gujarat Assembly election, the party fielded Hitendrakumar Madhabhai Patel from Thakkarbapa Nagar in Ahmedabad. The party’s candidates therefore remained concentrated in a limited number of constituencies rather than representing a broad statewide electoral presence.

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The FIR against Garib Kalyan Party (GKP) names  its office bearers: President  Neeraj Kumar Kshatriya, secretary Dhananjay Singh Rajput, treasurer Dhiraj Kumar Kshatriya, office-bearers Avinash Chandrakant Tiwari and Pradip Singh Parihar, and chartered accountants Kuldeepchandan Parvatsinh Tapariya, Ashokkumar Radheshyam Shah and Pankaj Agarwal

The FIR claims that the party received Rs 206.76 crore in purported donations between the 2022-23 and 2025-26 fiscals. The FIR puts the amount of purportedly bogus tax deductions claimed by donors at nearly Rs 134.49 crore and alleges an estimated tax loss of around Rs 62 crore to the government. The FIR however also claims that there are records of credits of more than Rs 1,295 crore in the bank accounts of firms allegedly connected with the arrangement.

The modus operandi followed by the GKP was slightly similar to that of the SAP case. The FIR says that donors transferred money through banking channels and received donation receipts, after which the funds were allegedly moved to firms identified as Jai Ram Enterprises and Kisan Enterprises. Fake bills showing purchases of foodgrains and other goods were allegedly created before the money was later withdrawn in cash. The FIR alleges that five to seven per cent commission was deducted and the remaining amount returned to donors as cashback.

The FIR has also pointed to the alleged role of chartered accountant Kuldeep Chandan Tapariya, alleging they accepted Rs 50,000 in cash and prepared the audit report without examining the party’s accounts. It further alleges that CA Ashokkumar Shah and CA Pankaj Agrawal, despite allegedly knowing about the dubious firms involved, digitally signed balance sheets and tax-audit reports and uploaded them on government portals.

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The Ahmedabad-based Garib Kalyan Party had a more limited electoral footprint in Gujarat. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, it fielded three candidates – Dheerajkumar Kshatriya from Anand, Indradevi Hiralal Vora from Kheda and Mohammad Hanif Shah from Navsari. The party’s Anand candidate, Dheerajkumar Kshatriya, polled 1,747 votes, accounting for 0.15% of the vote.

The Bharatiya National Janata Dal (BNJD), according to the I-T department, caused a loss of Rs 343 crore.

The BNJD FIR names party president Surendrakumar Vishnubhai Gajera and describes him as the “main accussed and lynchpin” and alleges that he supervised the network and determined commission rates. Others in FIR named are General secretary Vipul Solanki, treasurer Ronaksinh Chavda and CA/auditor Adil Saiyed, besides the party itself.

The BNJD complaint alleges that donations were routed through the party’s bank accounts and subsequently transferred to firms including J Trading, Kajal Enterprises and Parmar Associates. False bills showing purchases of foodgrains and other goods were allegedly prepared, following which the money was withdrawn in cash. The FIR alleges commissions ranging from two to ten per cent, with the balance allegedly returned to taxpayers in cash.

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The complaint also alleges that false records were used to submit a Form 24A contribution report before the Election Commission, and puts the alleged loss to the government at around Rs 343 crore. It further alleges that CA Adil Saiyed “prepared and digitally signed audit reports without properly verifying the party’s accounts”.

The Bharatiya National Janata Dal contested five seats in the 2022 Gujarat Assembly election. Its candidates were Nikhil Bhikha Patel from Vatva, Rushabh Kaushikkumar Mehta from Ellisbridge, Molikkumar Vinodchandra Shah from Anand, Kamleshkumar Jentilal Hirapara from Jamnagar South and Jagdish Manilal Meda from the Scheduled Tribe-reserved Garbada constituency. In the 2017 Assembly election, the party again fielded five candidates, including its founder V.M. Gajera, who contested from Amreli. The Election Commission maintains constituency-wise statistical records for both Gujarat Assembly elections. Molikkumar also contested the Umreth bypolls in May 2026

Candidates of the three parties failed to cross the statutory threshold for retaining their security deposits in the elections they contested in Gujarat. Under Section 158 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, a defeated candidate’s deposit is forfeited if the candidate does not secure more than one-sixth of the total valid votes polled in the constituency. As per the Election Commission the threshold is one-sixth, or roughly 16.67 per cent, of valid votes. The parties’ electoral performance was correspondingly marginal. In the 2017 and 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections, the BNJD’s statewide vote share was around 0.01 per cent in each cycle. In the 2017 election, for instance, party founder V.M. Gajera polled only 322 votes in Amreli, far below the deposit-retention threshold.

The modus operandi is taxpayers allegedly make purported political donations through banking channels, receive documentation to claim tax deductions, and the money is subsequently routed through intermediary firms before being returned in cash after commission is deducted. But the parties accused, periods, amounts and commission rates differ in each FIR.

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A senior Gujarat Police officer involved in the investigations told this newspaper on Saturday that the I-T department had conducted searches on these parties two years earlier over suspicion. “We have received four complaints and have registered three FIR’s against the RUPPs. Since the I-T department itself is the complainant, they will give evidence on record based on their investigations carried out over a period of time. We are collecting evidence including forensics for the charges under the forgery cases. We will be conducting searches of the premises of the party workers and members who are involved. We will also initiate legal proceedings to ensure that till the investigation is over, bank accounts cannot be used and properties of those accused cannot be sold. Process will also be initiated to attach some properties as proceeds of crime,” said the officer.

He added that the police would file a “strong chargesheet” to ensure a deterrent. When The Indian Express reached out to SAP, the calls were directed to voicemail while the numbers listed for GKP and BJND were unavailable.