Indore: The interstate ration scam in Madhya Pradesh recently came to limelight and exposed the fact that the grain was being transported from Indore via Jabalpur and Nagpur to Hyderabad.
Due to the ongoing investigation, in this case, it has been found that through the consumer association formed by ration scamsters Bharat Dave, Shyam Dave and Pramod Dahigude in Madhya Pradesh, these accused had formed a nexus with the ration shopkeepers in Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the law seems to be tightening its noose around those scamsters who during the lockdown embezzled the food that belonged to 51 thousand families. The scam of about 80 lakhs has so far been detected in 12 government ration shops.
Experts believe that if all the ration shops in the state are investigated, then the scam can go beyond 100 crores. The ration mafia surreptitiously sold grain to the profiteers.
The way the scandal has been planned and executed, it is nothing short of an organized crime story, some of whose villains are now in the custody of the law, but the entire chain of the mafia is yet to be bulldozed by the law. The roots of the ration scam have reached Hyderabad as well. These shopkeepers brought rice from Madhya Pradesh at cheap rates.
In Madhya Pradesh's biggest food scam, it has also been learned that when the sacks of food grains from various districts of Indore were sent to Andhra Pradesh via Jabalpur and Nagpur, their sacks were changed on the way. Through the same fake vouchers or bills used to transport food grains, the food grains and rice meant for the poor of Madhya Pradesh would reach the consumer operators of Andhra Pradesh.
Fake bills were made for other states
In fact, in Madhya Pradesh, about 500 shops in Indore, including the Pradhan Mantri Kalyan Yojana, Annapurna Yojana of the state, the grain which was distributed through ration cards were sold out in the black market instead of distributing it among the eligible beneficiaries i.e. the poor.
For executing this scam, Bharat Dave and Shyam Dave had created a nexus that was spread in different districts and states. After preparing fake bills from the factories, the accused then procured food grains from rice factories and pulse mills apart from food grain mandis. By showing grain through these bills, this grain was transported to Andhra Pradesh by trucks via Jabalpur and Nagpur.
The morsel that belonged the poor of Indore sold in Hyderabad
During the course of lockdown, the ration was issued by the Central and State Government for the poor. This ration was to be distributed in Indore. But the ration mafia used this opportunity for their benefit. They planned to snatch away the morsels meant for the poor to benefit the pockets of the profiteers. This was not possible without the complicity of the officers.
During the period of Corona, grains worth more than 10 crore rupees were released to Indore for the poor when the lockdown was imposed by the government. During the lockdown, movement of trucks was not banned in the entire country including Indore city. The ration mafia took advantage of this. The ration was sent to Hyderabad by trucks and was sold in the open market.
How did corruption flourish?
The food grain was sent to the ration shops by the government for the poor. On the other hand, the beneficiary was given less grain than the prescribed quantity. The rest of the grain was transported to another warehouse. A fake entry was made in the name of the consumer. In this way, when a large number of food grains was collected in the warehouse. A fake bill was then prepared.
Here too, the complicity of corrupt officers who were willing to engage in this corrupt practise is evident. The challenge, then, was to take the grain out of the agricultural produce market.
There Mandi fee was paid with the help of fake bills. Also, fake receipts for selling goods were shown to merchants of other places. The consignment of the goods was to be sold. For this, such merchants were identified in other places in the country, who would buy stolen goods.
Such shady traders were identified in Hyderabad who were willing to sell these stolen consignments. Clearly, the entire network was engaged in nurturing these parasites of corruption. Among them are officers and employees of the Agricultural Produce Market and also, the complicity of officers of government departments cannot be denied.
Bharat Dave created a chain of corruption!
Bharat Dave is the biggest villain of this organized crime story. He is the president of the organization of the operators of all the ration shops in the state. Therefore he had an intervention in every ration shop. With his clout, he involved many shopkeepers in this scam. In this way, a parallel supply chain was prepared, which was willing to starve the poor to death.
The Food Controller also had his share of bribe!
Under the Antyodaya scheme, every family gets 35 kg of ration. But only 10 kg of ration was distributed t among the poor families. People are misinformed that only this much ration was allocated to be distributed. When people made complaints about this anomaly, the clean chit was given to these shops by the government officials. The food controller RC Meena was another villain of this crime story who gave a clean chit to the shops.
It is being said that he too received the share of the profit made in this scam. Meena would suspend the licenses of some shops to show that all was well, but he would be reinstated their license after a few days.
Political rhetoric intensified over the scam
The politics over the ration scams is also being done in full swing. Former minister and Congress MLA PC Sharma blamed the BJP government for this scam.
On the other hand, the government claims that they are not going to spare the scamsters. Home Minister Narottam Mishra said that no mafia will be spared in the Shivraj government. Therefore, the action is being taken against these people under the National Security Act.
It will be a challenge to provide justice
The layers of scam are slowly opening up. But it will be a big challenge to recover the amount earned with this scam. Efforts are being made to snap the corruption net right from Indore to Hyderabad. The list of traders is being prepared, who have purchased the stolen grain.
Raids are being conducted at the locations of that belong to the main accused, Bharat Dave. Preparations are being made to recover the amount of scam by auctioning his property.
Food department official lodged the complaint
Food department officer Avinash Jain complained to the Bhanwarkua police of Indore that the foodgrains which came in April 2020 under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana by the Merariyad Consumer Store, the Harani Laxmibai credit institution in Abhinav Nagar, was not distributed to the beneficiary, rather it was sold in open market. At the same time, the food officer had also given details of food grains in his complaint.
Under which the Bhavarkuan police has registered a case. The Food Officer told the police that the ration and food grains received till the time of investigation from April 2020 under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana were not distributed to the eligible beneficiaries, 14,528 kg of food grains including 10,530 kg of wheat, 3,998 kg of rice. This food grain was worth about 4,46070 rupees.
In the same way, 292 kg gram horse gram pulse was not distributed to 2905 eligible beneficiaries, and the said food grains and the ration were sold in black-marketed in order to get monetary benefits.
A case has been registered against these accused
On the complaint of the Food Department official in this whole case, Bhanwarkuan Police has registered the case against RC Meena, former District Supply Controller Officer, Dalbar Singh, Director Vendor Maharani Laxmibai Credit Institution Maryadit Consumer Store Abhinav Nagar, Ramesh Singh Sardar, President Maharani Lakshmi Bai Credit Institute Maryadity Consumer Store Abhinav Nagar, Lalit Dayaram Vice President Maharani Laxmi Bai Credit Institution Maryadit Consumer Store Abhinav Nagar, Bharat Dave Chief unauthorized operator, Shyam Dave Chief unauthorized operator and the investigations have been initiated.
The police have registered a case under the 3/7 Goods Act 1955 and Section 409, 420 120B Indian Penal Law on all these accused.
SIT too is engaged in the investigation
At present, the district administration has instructed the police to take strict action against all those who are found guilty in the ration scam, as well as to thoroughly investigate them. The police has also constituted an SIT to look further in this entire matter, which is involved in investigating the whole case very minutely. In this matter, more cases can be registered on the accused related to the ration scam, in many other police station areas as well.
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