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CBI searches come after six months of undercover investigations
In a massive crackdown, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out searches at over 50 locations in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi on January 11 in the case of alleged corruption in the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
A CBI official related to the probe told The New Indian, “The CBI is carrying out searches at 50 locations.” Officials also stated that the raid had recovered approximately ₹60 lakhs so far.
He said that the agency arrested Rajiv Kumar Mishra, posted as DGM from Chandigarh, for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹50,000 from a rice miller.
The CBI crackdown came after it got reports of corruption in the FCI and booked over 74 people, including officers of the FCI.
The officer said that for six months, the CBI sleuths carried out tireless efforts, undertaking undercover operations and takeouts to identify the members of the syndicate operating in channelised corruption during the procurement, storage and distribution of food grains through FCI.
The official further said that in this syndicate chain of FCI officials, from the level of technical assistant to DGM, GM, AGM and Executive Director, along with the rice millers and food grain traders have been identified and an operation was carried out.
Searches were carried out after more revelations were made by Mishra, who was arrested on Tuesday while taking a bribe from a rice mill owner in Chandigarh.
This unholy nexus was allegedly carrying out procurement of low-quality food grains, inflating grain quantities received, and thus defrauding both farmers and PDS system consumers.
The official said that the searches have been carried out in Chandigarh, Mohali, Ludhiana, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, etc., and in Haryana’s Ambala. The official said that the residence and office premises of FCI ED are also being searched in Delhi.
Earlier last year in an unrelated mega investment by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab had detected involvement of then Congress minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu in ₹2500 crore crop procurement scam.
The agency had disclosed that aides to Ashu had used motorcycles, Activas and Indica cars to ferry sacks of foodgrains between mandis and flour mills and billed the state treasure against mandatory commercial vehicles.
The New Indian had accessed the list of vehicles that were deployed by private contractors who were hired by the Punjab government for the transportation of food grains for the 2020-21 season. The alleged irregularities took place while Congress MLAs joined hands with farm outfits to raise a banner of protest against the now withdrawn three farm bills between 2020 and 2021.
The sensational scam, being probed by Punjab’s Vigilance Bureau (VB), has detected that these vehicles were deployed by at least three private contractors following the tenders floated by the department. Ashu held the portfolio of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs during that time.
In another unrelated scam in 2015, it was found that there was a mismatch in the payment of ₹31,000 crores owed by the then Akali Dal government 2015.
In the case, FCI sought the bill to be settled but the then Shiromani Akali Dal chief and then Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal tried to cover up the scandal by seeking a waiver from the central government and its ally Bharatiya Janata Party.
