CBK Files Chargesheet In Rice Diversion Scam Involving Senior FCS & CA Officials

Srinagar- The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch Kashmir has filed a chargesheet in a major rice diversion scam involving senior officers of the Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) Department. The chargesheet in FIR No. 07/2020, under Sections 409, 420 and 120-B of the RPC, has been submitted before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sopore.

The officials chargesheeted include Siraj-ud-Din Bhat, then TSO PEG Baramulla; Mohammad Hussain Bhat, then TSO/Storekeeper Hygam Granary; and Mohammad Shafi Rather alias Shafi Kanda, then TSO Hygam Granary.

According to the Crime Branch, the case originated after the Directorate of FCS&CA flagged suspected misappropriation of rice stocks from the Hygam and Baramulla granaries. Acting on these inputs, the SSP Crime Branch Kashmir ordered a Joint Surprise Check (JSC) to verify the dispatch and receipt of food grain consignments.

The JSC detected major discrepancies. Seven truckloads of rice, shown as dispatched from PEG Baramulla under the supervision of FCI officials and the TSO PEG Baramulla, were falsely recorded as received at Hygam Granary and further distributed to sale centres in Wagoora, Nowpora, Kathigan Jathiar, Kalantra and Dandmoh. However, all these centres denied having received any such consignments, a claim supported by their official records.

Investigators found that the challans used for these fictitious transactions were fraudulently procured by Assistant Storekeeper Palhallan Pattan, Mohammad Shafi Rather, from Siraj-ud-Din Bhat, and subsequently managed through TSO Hygam, Mohammad Hussain Bhat.

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