Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Economic Offences Wing has registered a case against eight persons including six officials of Markfed and the Food and Civil Supplies Department and two rice millers from Balaghat, officials said on Friday.
A complaint submitted to the EOW alleged that the rice millers in connivance with government officials, caused a loss to the state exchequer in the name of rice milling.
On April 2, 2024, two trucks carrying paddy were intercepted at Rajegaon interstate border. The trucks had loaded paddy from the warehouse of Sachdeva Rice Mills in Kosmi, Balaghat. During the investigation, Markfed officials found that the paddy was illegally transported to Maharashtra. In his statement, the rice mills owner said the drivers had fallen asleep and accidentally reached Rajegaon. He claimed that the trucks were headed to his rice mill.
The then district manager of Markfed, Balaghat, Heerendra Raghuwanshi, signed an agreement with Sameer Sachdeva for rice milling. The agreement stipulated milling of four metric tonnes per hour. However, bills were raised for six metric tonnes per hour. The then district manager of the food and civil supplies department, Balaghat, Piyush Mali, released payment to the miller without verifying electricity bills, weighbridge records, truck entry and exit records and other procedures.
The EOW found that electricity consumption was nearly half of the projected usage and that the paddy was sold in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
The agency alleged that Markfed officials Abhishek Nishad, Heerendra Raghuwanshi, Vivek Tiwari and Harish Kori, Food and Civil Supplies Department officials Piyush Mali and Durgesh Bais, and millers Prakash Sachdeva and Sameer Sachdeva formed a nexus and caused a loss of ₹2.79 crore to the state government. The EOW has registered a case against them.
