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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has so far recovered about ₹1.03 crore cash after two rounds of searches, including at atleast on 39 locations on Friday, to unravel entire network of cash-for-grains racket Food Corporation of India officials were allegedly running in cahoots with rice millers and others.
The CBI said that fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) to the extent of over ₹3 crore and documents pertaining to various properties were recovered during the three-day searches conducted at the premises of 74 accused. The latest round of searches were conducted at Rup Nagar, Sangrur, Morinda, Bassi Pathana Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Gurdaspur, Barnala, Mansa, Bathinda, Sunam, Budlada, Mohali (all in Punjab); Ambala, Gurugram (in Haryana); Kolar, Chikkabalapur (in Karnataka); Chennai (Tamil Nadu), New Delhi, Chandigarh.
Besides Rajiv Kumar Mishra, the Deputy General Manager, the CBI has also arrested Satish Verma, Manager (Lab) of FCI, after recovering cash of ₹20 lakh.
Bribe collection
The CBI alleged in the FIR that FCI officers had organised a syndicate for the collection of bribes from private millers/shelters and bribe amount was collected at the depot level by them on a per truck basis being unloaded during storage of grains and was distributed to different ranks of the Corporation.
The FIR interestingly said that accused “Satish Verma and Sukanta Kumar Jena directed Nishant Barria to collect bribe amounts on a per truck basis and asked for ₹1,050 per truck as Central Pool”. Of this amount, as the FIR, “ ₹200 is for GM; ₹50 for each of 4 DMs; ₹20 for RO labs; ₹100 for ED/HQ officers; ₹450 will be kept by Sukanta Kumar Jena himself and rest will be for miscellaneous work”.
Other than Executive Director Sudeep Singh, from whom ₹10 lakh cash was recovered; other top FCI officers named in the FIR are Hemant Kumar Jain, General Manager, Sukanta Kumar Jain, Assistant General Manager, Anil Kumar, incharge AGM, Chandra Prakash, AGM, Sumit Bansal DGM (vigilance, Manager Sunita Sharma, Manager Approva Vallabhan, Manager Krishna Dang, Manager Sushil Kumar, Manager Indrabhusan, Technical Assistant Nishant Barria, Technical Assistant Parwinder Singh, Technical Assistant Naveneet Kaur, and Suryakant Sharma.
Operation Kanak
Overall searches were conducted at 99 locations in a massive crackdown under the name ‘Operation Kanak’ against the unholy nexus of channelized corruption adopted by FCI officials, private rice millers and grain merchants by way of paying undue gratification for getting undue favours, the agency said in a statement.
A case was registered against 74 accused including 34 serving and 3 retired officials of the FCI, 17 private persons and other entities on charges that huge amount of bribe was paid to Corporation bureaucrats for extending favours to the private operators. Favours sought was for accommodating procurement of low quality foodgrains, and malpractices in day-to-day operations in unloading of foodgrains, managing enquiries against them, alleged the agency.
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