PANAJI
The Crime Branch (CB) has begun a probe into a suspected nexus involving Civil Supplies officials in the alleged theft of food grains from State-owned godowns and its smuggling to neighbouring Karnataka.
The CB sleuths on Tuesday arrested five persons and recovered 1014 gunny bags of wheat and rice in separate raids at Curti, Kundaim and Borim. The two absconding accused including the kingpin Sachin Naik Borkar, have applied for anticipatory bail.
Sources said the accused’s confession that they stole the stock from the godowns belonging to Civil Supplies, pointed fingers at the department officials. “Some of the officials of Civil Supplies have been on our radar. We will issue them summons for questioning,” an officer told The Goan.
So also, the department officials, who compromised their responsibility or did not follow the norms to conspire with the criminals, will also be taken to task. “They will face arrest,” the officer said.
A day after feigning ignorance about the stolen food grains, Director of Civil Supplies Gopal Parsekar on Wednesday claimed that the wheat and rice bags are “intact” in their godowns.
Meanwhile, the CB has written to the District Administration as well as the Civil Supplies Department informing them about the raids. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has also sought a report from the investigation teams.
The five accused, Hazrat Ali Sayyed of Carambolim, and Vinay Kumar R Gudimani and Prakash K (also the owner of the truck seized in the raid), both hailing from Karnataka; driver Tousif Mulla from Ponda and Ram Kumar from Bihar will be produced before the local magistrate on Thursday to extend police remand.
