On Thursday, May 11, the Lokayukta’s special police establishment (SPE) conducted a raid at the residential premises of Hema Meena, a female assistant engineer on contract with the Madhya Pradesh Police Housing Corporation (MPPHC) in a case of disproportionate assets.
The authorities seized documents regarding assets worth Rs 5 to Rs 7 crore from her possession and several other luxurious items, including a TV set costing Rs 30 lakh, 20 cars, including 10 luxury ones, and more than 100 foreign-breed dogs.
Hema Meena, the contractual engineer was earning a salary of Rs 30,000 while she accumulated all these assets. According to officials, she was found possessing assets that are 232% disproportionate to her current income. The authorities are now investigating her for allegedly accumulating assets that are disproportionate to her known source of income.
According to reports, the raid was carried out at Hema Meena’s farmhouse located in the Bilkhiriya area of Bhopal in connection with an inquiry being conducted based on a complaint regarding disproportionate assets lodged against Hema Meena in 2020.
The Lokyukta officials confirmed that Hema Meena’s sprawling farmhouse had 40 rooms. The investigation revealed that her house was constructed at a cost of Rs 1 crore, registered under her father’s name, Ramswaroop Meena.
Roti-making machine worth Rs 2.5 lakhs also installed to make dog food
The farmhouse spread across 20,000 square feet of land was home to over 100 foreign breed pet dogs worth lakhs of rupees. It also contained 70 to 80 cows of different breeds. There were bathtubs for her pet dogs and a roti-making machine worth Rs 2.5 lakhs was also installed to feed her dogs.
The Lokayukta team, which also found bottles of foreign liquor inside her house, were reportedly quoted by Navbharat Times as saying that Hema Meena used to administer imported alcohol to her pet dogs as medicines.
Besides, agricultural equipment worth lakhs and cigarettes were also seized by the authorities.
The officers also revealed that Hema Meena used walkie-talkies to communicate with the staff at her residence, and a jammer had been installed there as well. The walkie-talkie has been seized by the Lokayukta police team.
Besides possessing 20,000 square feet of land in Bilkhiriya village in the Bhopal district of Madhya Pradesh, Meena also had lands in Raisen and Vidisha.
According to media reports, the team from the Lokayukta Special Police Establishment (SPE) conducted the raid clad in civilian outfits. They approached the bungalow but were stopped by the guards. The police pretended to be there to repair the solar panels. After bypassing the guards, the team entered the premises and confronted Hema in her home. They seized her phone and proceeded with the raid.
Lokayukta’s team has compiled a list of 450 goods seized from Hema Meena’s home
During the raid, the police made a list of items that were seized from Hema Meena’s house. The list included 450 items, including one smart TV set worth Rs 30 lakhs. The TV was not in use and was packed in a box. Apart from this, a 2.5 lakh worth roti-making machine, a high-end revolving chair, 12 water motors, a small crane, two trucks, one tanker, multiple ACs were also recovered from the engineer’s bungalow.
A fleet of 20 cars including 10 luxury vehicles like the Mahindra company’s Thar were also seen parked in a huge garage built inside the premises. The cars have also been seized by the authorities. The estimated price of these goods is approximately around 1.50 crores. The cost of more than 100 dogs and more than 60 cows is yet to be assessed.
The officials said that when questioned about the properties found in her name, Hema claimed that her father and brother had bought the land and donated it.
Who is Hema Meena
A divorcee, Hema Meena is a resident of Chapna village in Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen district. Hema Meena’s first appointment with the Police Housing Corporation was on December 28, 2010. She began working under this directive on January 1, 2011. However, on May 3 of the same year, she resigned from this position. Following that, she rejoined on February 22, 2013. She again quit in July 2015, after working for nearly a year and a half.
On November 24, 2016, she re-joined and in a year, she was promoted from the post of a sub-engineer to assistant engineer-in-charge of MPPHC. Hema Meena’s contract was set to expire in May 2022, however, it was extended to October 2023. She has now been fired after the officials unearthed assets worth 7 crores in the raid on the contractual engineer.