Six rice millers duped of Rs 9 cr

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, August 4

Six rice millers of Karnal district have allegedly been cheated to the tune of Rs9 crore after supplying around 1,000 tonnes of rice to a firm in Dubai. They have not got payment from the firm, which has left them on the brink of bankruptcy.

The millers alleged that a fraudster of Dubai projected himself as a multi-millionaire with the help of two Indians. They said he disappeared with their rice in Dubai. They said they visited Dubai several times, but got no relief.

They approached CM Manohar Lal Khattar, requesting him to intervene. They approached Superintendent of Police Surinder Singh Bhoria, who assigned the case to detective staff.

The millers had now mailed their issue to PM Narendra Modi, the High Commissioner of UAE in India and the Director General, Foreign Trade and Commerce Ministry. They had sent a letter to the King of Dubai, but did not get any response.

Vipin Goel, managing director of Kamla Rice and General Mills in Karnal, said they had sold rice to Dubai’s Al Rawnaq Al Thahbhi General Trading through a person of Karnal and another of Kaithal, who had lured them into selling the rice.

The six millers — two each of Taraori and Nissing and one each of Karnal and Assandh — had shipped 37 containers in March and April. They had been sent nine telegraphic transfer receipts for shipments as proof that their payments were being electronically remitted.

The payments were subsequently cancelled and the security cheques bounced, said Goel, who had dispatched 17 containers. “I had flown to Dubai five times in the past three months, but to no avail. It will take us years to recover our losses,” he said.

Pawan Gupta of Heera Rice Mill in Assandh said he lost 120 tonnes of rice worth Rs1 crore. “I went to Dubai and found that the company was based in a rented building. We now hope for help from the CM and Centre,” he said.