Lagatar24 Desk
Chandigarh, Feb 21: The CBI searched the offices of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) officials on Tuesday at more than 30 places around Punjab, including Rajpura, Patiala, Sarhind, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Sonam, Moga, Firozapur, Ludhiana, and Sangrur.
“CBI is currently conducting raids at the premises of FCI officials who were involved in taking bribes,” CBI officials said.
They claimed that private businessmen were given preferential treatment when low-quality food grains were purchased to mask shortages.
The central investigating agency recovered approximately Rs 1.03 crore in January. This included proceeds from additional searches made at 39 locations, including Rup Nagar, Sangrur, Morinda, Bassi Pathana Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Gurdaspur, Barnala, Mansa, Bathinda, Sunam, Budlada, Mohali (all in Punjab), Ambala, Gurugram (in Haryana), Chikkabalapur (in Karnataka); Chennai (Tamil Nadu), New Delhi, and Chandigarh.
The CBI detained a Manager (Lab), FCI, DO, Chandigarh, during the probe. A case was registered against 74 accused, including serving (34) and retired officials (3) of FCI, private persons (17) and other entities, they added.
According to the allegations, FCI officers received a sizable bribe in exchange for doing favours for the private nexus operators and engaging in dishonest acts during routine foodgrain unloading operations.
Additionally, it was claimed that officials colluded with rice millers to conceal stock shortages and approve the shipment of subpar food to other regions of the nation. The FCI officers are allegedly bribed by the rice millers.
