VB arrests 2 millers in Rs 18-cr paddy scams

Tribune News Service

Moga, July 2

The state Vigilance Bureau today arrested two rice millers in multi-crore rice scams, which were unearthed in Moga district last year.

Notably, the Moga police, after having registered three criminal cases against the rice millers, had not arrested them. Instead, they gave a clean chit to them during a re-investigation marked by the Inspector General of Bathinda Range.

It was only after the intervention of the state Home Secretary that the investigations of these cases were handed over to the Vigilance Bureau recently. The total embezzlement of paddy and custom-milled rice by the three rice mills have been estimated at Rs 42 crore.

Surinder Kumar, DSP of the bureau, who is investigating these cases, said Manoj Jain, owner of Mahadev Rice Mill, Ajitwal; and Kunal Bansal, owner of Mahaveer Rice Mill, Ajitwal; had been arrested. Paddy worth Rs 7,70,30,099 and Rs 10,52,96,315 had gone missing from these rice mills, respectively.

They would be produced before a local court tomorrow to seek police remand. The third partner of these rice mills, Ashish Bansal, was yet to be arrested, the DSP said.

These two rice mills had together “embezzled” paddy and custom-milled rice worth over Rs 18 crore. The paddy was allotted to them by the Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation. The economic offences wing of the local police registered two separate cases against them.

Meanwhile, the alleged kingpin in the third case, one of the biggest paddy scams of the state, worth Rs 24 crore, Inderpreet Singh, alias Bunty, is still on the run. He is son of Ram Tirath, owner of Kwality Rice Mills Private Limited, Dharamkot. An FIR was registered against him in the Dharamkot police station in December 2014.