In Gujarat's capital, Gandhinagar, a peon with the Gujarat Water Resources Development Corporation (GWRDC) Ltd. has been found to be owning seven properties — three flats, an office space and three land plots — and two cars. These assets are valued at Rs 1.18 crore on paper, while their market value is pegged at multiple crores.

Gujarat Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Friday and Saturday registered five cases of disproportionate assets (DA) in Gandhinagar, Rajkot and Sabarkantha, for a total value of Rs 14.17 crore. One of the cases, worth Rs 11.56 crore, forms the lions share of the sum.

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ACB officials said Hasmukh Rawal, a peon with GWRDC, was found to have assets disproportionate by Rs 1.18 crore after scrutiny of his sources of income and properties bought between April 2004 and March 2016. According to the case details, Rawal has three properties, at Green Park Society and Ambika Apartment in Gandhinagar and Riddhi Siddhi Apartment at Pethapur, an office in Radhe Square at Dholakuwa Crossroads and three plots in Chiloda and Isanpur.

"His wife was part of the Gandhinagar district panchayat. His assets are 202.33% of his known sources of income. A search at his residence on Saturday by a Mehsana unit fetched gold ornaments worth Rs 12.53 lakh and other valuables worth Rs 3.82 lakh," said an official.

In another case, Bharatgiri Goswami, associated with the HR department of GSPC, is named in a DA case of Rs 11.56 crore, an amount 2,489.89% of his income.

"Goswami was found to own an apartment in Akshar Apartments and a plot in Sector 1 at Gandhinagar, another plot at Kanva Society in Koba, seven pieces of farmland in Pethapur and a piece of farmland in Alampur near Gandhinagar. We have taken into consideration the period from 2004 to 2015 for the assessment," said an ACB official.

Sources said that Goswami has left the government organization to join a corporate house.

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The ACB's Sabarkantha unit on Friday registered a case against Prakashchandra Patel, field assistant (land acquisition) with Gujarat Land Development Corporation, Himmatnagar for DA of Rs 33.09 lakh, which is 157.35% more than his income for the period between 2008 and 2015.

"His properties include four agricultural land parcels, five residential plots, 70g of gold ornaments and one car," said an official.

The ACB team of Rajkot (rural) filed a complaint against Anilkumar Makadia, deputy mamlatdar at Dhoraji. Investigators said Makadia was found to have assets 97.9% greater, at Rs 40.66 lakh, against his known sources of income.

Another team in Rajkot city registered a case against Chandrika Vadher, former principal of Dharmendrasinhji College in Rajkot for DA of Rs 68.98 lakh, which is 83% more than her income. Vadher was trapped in a corruption case in August 2016 after which an inquiry was started against her.

ACB officials said that these cases took place on the basis of secret investigations carried out by various field teams.

"We had got complaints in person and through the helpline. We also took into consideration trap cases, to start investigations. A second round will involve searches at each person's home and scrutiny of bank accounts to find out details of more properties if any," said a senior ACB official. This is the third major drive by ACB to record DA cases in two years, he added.

A team from the Mehsana unit of ACB conducted a search at Goswami's residence on Saturday evening. While Goswami was not at home as he was in Navsari for a wedding, the team found Rs 8 lakh cash in Rs 2,000 notes.

"A separate probe can take place to ascertain their source as the currency notes are in serial number. As the amount is large, other agencies will be intimated," said an official.