ED Nabs Gujarat IAS Rajendrakumar Patel in Land Scam, Rs 1500 Cr Racket Feared

• Gujarat IAS Rajendrakumar Patel, former Surendranagar Collector, arrested by ED for bribery and money laundering in a land conversion scam.
• Allegations point to a systematic extortion network demanding bribes for Non-Agricultural (NA) land permissions, with fixed rates per square meter.
• The scam involved transactions potentially worth Rs 1500 crore, with Patel accused as the main beneficiary and his PA Jayrajsinh Jhala handling cash.
• Investigation began with a December 2025 complaint, leading to raids, recovery of Rs 67.50 lakh from Deputy Mamlatdar Chandrasinh Bhupatsinh Mori, and subsequent arrests.
• Patel, a 2015 batch IAS officer, was found with disproportionate assets worth approximately Rs 5 crore; more officers and middlemen are expected to be implicated.

Why It Matters: ED's arrest of IAS Rajendrakumar Patel exposes a massive land conversion bribery racket in Gujarat.