Two individuals were arrested on Wednesday as part of the ongoing investigation into the recruitment scam at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). The accused, Monal Limbachia and Jay Patel, were allegedly awarded jobs by tampering with their exam marks, despite failing the assistant technical supervisor exam held in August 2024.
The accused were allegedly able to manipulate their scores with the help of Pulkit Sathwara, the AMC central office head clerk and the prime accused in the case.
Sathwara reportedly demanded a fee for altering the candidates’ marks, enabling them to secure positions among 10,189 applicants competing for 93 posts in the civic body’s engineering department.
Jay Patel’s father, Ashok, was also taken into custody. However, the third candidate involved in the scam, Tamanna Patel, remains at large. Police have indicated that Tamanna’s brother, Mrugesh Patel, also had his marks tampered with.
Sathwara allegedly requested Rs 7 lakh from Dinesh Patel, Mrugesh’s father and an AMC public health supervisor, for the manipulation of his son’s marks.
Sathwara, who was responsible for handling recruitment-related IT tasks in collaboration with Gujarat University, is accused of altering candidates’ scores before uploading the results to the AMC website. Authorities revealed that Sathwara was under significant financial pressure, having borrowed between Rs 90 lakh and Rs 95 lakh from family and associates to fund a fishing business near Nalsarovar. However, the business ultimately failed, leaving him in financial distress.
The scam came to light after a whistleblower submitted a complaint to the municipal commissioner, highlighting the tampering of marks for three failed candidates who were subsequently appointed as Class 2 technical supervisors. This led to a deeper investigation and the arrest of the two candidates and their family members.
Meanwhile, the standing committee approved a proposal to transfer employees in Classes 1, 2 and 3 who have served in the same department and position for more than three years. The new proposal allows such employees to remain in their current position for up to six years before being reassigned.
Sathwara, who had been working as a senior clerk and DTP operator at the AMC central office for the past five years, is the central figure in this recruitment scandal.
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