On Saturday evening, the administration team raided the Sainath godown located in Bilpura Industrial Area and seized over 35 sacks carrying 17 quintals of rice. The seized rice is believed to be taken from government ration shops and intended to be distributed among the poor. Following the raid, the team has sealed the godown. Three samples of rice have been collected for investigation so far.
The raid occurred around 7 pm on Saturday, with JSO Jitendra Jamra, RI Ramgopal Sharma, and Patwari Dinesh Lodhi reaching the godown with the police personnel. Moreover, the godown operators did not give any clear information about the ongoing activities and the origin of the rice during questioning that prompted the team to seize the PDS rice on the spot and seal the godown.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the rice was packed in sacks and transported to Gujarat, Rajasthan and Pipariya in Narmadapuram by truck. Reports suggest that agents purchase the PDS rice available in the open from rural areas, and then this rice is collected and sold to traders outside the district. Additionally, the Investigations have also revealed that there is a large network operated in buying and selling PDS rice that is active in the district. Irregularities have been caught from this godown earlier as well. On February 3, 115 sacks of rice were seized from the godown by the authorities, leading to seal the warehouse. However, despite that action, after 5 months, rice was seized again from the same warehouse.
The warehouse owners, Bhagwan Das Sahu, Purushottam Sharma, stated that a raid was also conducted at this warehouse on February 3, sealing the warehouse, but it was reopened later after a court hearing, with rice handed over to them under an official order.