Haryana: Inquiry exposes ‘ghost procurement’ racket in multi-crore Karnal paddy scam, 5 dismissed
By Parveen Arora
The departmental inquiry into the multi-crore paddy procurement scam in Karnal during last Kharif season has found it to be a highly organised “ghost procurement” racket involving officials of the procurement agency officials, Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB), rice millers, arhtiyas and others.
The investigation revealed massive irregularities in paddy procurement, storage, transportation and verification, where stock shown in official records was allegedly missing on the ground. Besides, it found fake gate passes, forged stock entries, suspicious GPS records and paddy procurement existing only on paper, causing crores of rupees in losses to the government.Based on the findings of the inquiry, the Director General of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department has dismissed five officials — inspectors Lokesh, Sandeep Sharma, Yashvir Singh, Sameer Vashisht and sub-inspector Ramphal.
As per the departmental inquiry, inspector Sameer Vashisht of Karnal grain market was held jointly responsible for a loss of multi-crores. An inquiry conducted by District Food and Supplies Controller (DFSC), Bhiwani, revealed that during physical verification in October 2025, officials found a shortage of over 12,500 quintals of paddy at M/s Batan Foods Rice Mill. The inquiry found that Vashisht failed to physically verify trucks before issuing gate passes and could not produce weighbridge slips linked to paddy transportation. GPS records further showed trucks travelling “zero kilometres” despite official claims of transportation between grain markets and the rice mill.Inspector Yashvir Singh was also dismissed after the official found irregularities in procurement and lifting operations linked to M/s Batan Foods Rice Mill. Officials found discrepancies in transport records from Gharaunda grain market and missing stock of paddy. Required permissions and gate-pass documents were allegedly absent.
Similar findings emerged against inspector Lokesh of Nissing grain market, where the official detected missing paddy stock and fake transportation records with the same mill. The inquiry revealed that gate passes were issued without approval from senior authorities, while GPS tracking again showed trucks covering zero distance.
Inspector Sandeep Sharma of Jundla grain market was dismissed for failing to follow procurement norms and issuing gate passes without permission to the same mill. The department said that his functioning compromised transparency in the procurement system and resulted in administrative failure and revenue loss.
Sub-inspector Ramphal was removed from service over missing paddy stock and irregular storage practices. The inquiry accused him of failing to conduct mandatory physical verification and allowing paddy to be stored outside mill premises without approval.
So far, six FIRs have been registered by the Karnal police in different police stations. More than 40 officials, rice millers and arhtiyas have either been arrested or joined the investigation. Police suspect that paddy and rice sourced from states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were fraudulently shown as Haryana produce and supplied to the government as custom-milled rice (CMR). A Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by Karnal Police is now tracing the digital trail of the scam, including fake farmer registrations on the Meri Fasal Mera Byora portal, forged gate passes, fabricated arrivals and fraudulent government payments.
Officials involved in the investigation believe the scam functioned through a well-coordinated network where paddy that never physically reached grain markets was officially shown as procured, enabling illegal government allotments worth crores through forged documentation.
This article has been republished from The Tribune.