FCI corruption: CBI searches 19 more locations, arrests another official

New Delhi: The CBI has searched 19 more locations, made another arrest and recovered an additional Rs 23 lakh as part of its ongoing search operation against a corrupt syndicate of FCI officials, rice mill owners and grain merchants, officials said Friday.

They said the agency has searched 99 locations -- 90 in Punjab and Chandigarh and nine in the rest of the country, including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Chennai in Tamil Nadu where tentacles of the syndicate were found.

During the operation, Rs 23 lakh additional cash was seized, taking the total seized amount to Rs 1.03 crore, they said.

The agency has arrested Satish Verma, another manager in the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Patiala . He has been sent to Police custody, they said.

The CBI had on Wednesday launched a crackdown on alleged corruption in FCI through 'Operation Kanak,' conducting searches at 50 locations in Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi.

It had also arrested Deputy General Manager (DGM) of FCI Rajiv Kumar Mishra and Ravinder Singh Khera, proprietor of Guru Kripa Rice and Agro Industries, officials said.

The CBI agency has named a total of 74 accused in the FIR, including FCI Executive Director Sudeep Singh, after a six-month-long undercover operation to identify suspects in the syndicate of officials, rice mill owners, and middlemen, among others, who were allegedly indulging in corrupt practices, they said.

The role of senior officers of the Punjab government is also under scanner for running "benami" warehouses outsourced to the FCI.

Among the 74 accused, 34 are serving officials, three are retired, 17 are private people, and 20 entities, officials said, adding that the agency had earlier recovered Rs 80 lakh in cash, including Rs 10 lakh from a female officer, which was hidden in a washing machine.

Sources said the agency had started the operation against an "unholy nexus of corruption" in the FCI involving a chain of officers, rice mill owners, and grain merchants engaged in the procurement, storage, and distribution of food grains.

"It was further alleged that private rice millers and grain merchants were paying bribes to FCI officials for getting favours in accommodating procurement of low-quality foodgrains, malpractices in day-to-day operations in the unloading of foodgrains, managing inquiries against various malpractices, etc.," a CBI spokesperson had said in a statement on Wednesday.

He said the accused officials, in conspiracy with rice millers, allegedly covered up the shortages in stocks and accepted low-quality foodgrains, which were transported to other parts of the country.

"The rice millers, in turn, allegedly pay a huge amount of bribe to the officials of FCI, including technical assistants, DGM, AGM, and even the executive director, as part of channelized corruption," he said.

It is alleged that the accused officials were receiving bribes from silos operators and rice millers in extending favours during the tendering process as well, he said.

Their illegal actions cheated farmers by forcing them to sell their product through the syndicate and end consumers who were getting sub-standard grains under the Public Distribution System, the CBI alleged.

The agency also alleged officials showed more procurement on paper than what was available in warehouses.

The role of several officials - from technical assistants to executive directors - in the FCI are under the agency's scanner, officials said.