Haryana Food Civil Supplies Department Sub-Inspector arrested for allotting paddy to non-functional mill in Taraori

By Parveen Arora

The Karnal police have arrested a SubIinspector of Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Ramphal, in connection with an FIR registered in Taraori police station for shortage of paddy stock in a mill and allotting paddy allegedly to a non-functional mill. He was produced in the court, which granted his four-day police remand.

The police will try to determine the involvement of any others in this case.

“We have arrested the Sub-Inspector of Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department after the department found shortage of paddy in Balaji Rice Mill and allotted paddy to a non-functional mill. We have registered two FIRs against Ramphal, other officials of the department and owners of two rice mills. Ramphal has been arrested in connection with shortage of paddy in Balaji rice mill. He is also accused in shortage of paddy in Vishavkarma Rice Mill Taraori,” said Narender Bijarniya, Superintendent of Police (SP).

He maintained that the police have been investigating all angles in this case and those involved in this case would not be spared. “The court has granted a four-day police remand. We will inquire about the whole nexus,” he added.

A team of the Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, led by District Food and Supplies Controller (DFSC), Karnal, Mukesh Kumar conducted physical verification of both the mills last week and found shortage of paddy. DFSC said that Balaji Rice Mill, Taraori, was found short of nearly 10,000 quintals of paddy, while Vishavkarma Rice Mill, Taraori, was found short of around 26,000 quintals.

“We have also found that paddy was allotted to these mills when they were not functional and were not fulfilling the required criteria,” Kumar said.

The police have booked the owners of Balaji Rice Mill — Arun, Mohit and Surinder — along with department inspector Davinder and sub-inspector Ramphal under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), while owner of Vishavkarma Rice Mill –Mahinder Jangra along with both these officials of the department have been booked for the shortage of paddy.

Earlier, six FIRs had been registered by Karnal Police at different police stations in connection with the alleged paddy scam and with these two FIRs, the number has reached eight.

More than 40 officials, rice millers and arhtiyas have either been arrested or joined the investigation.

This article has been republished from The Tribune.