Government-stamped gunny sacks containing PDS rice and wheat, meant for the poor in Goa, were siphoned off and diverted to Karnataka right under the nose of the State government. The Crime Branch unravelled the scam, worth over Rs 12.67 lakh but the same zeal with which it took up the investigation seems to have fizzled out.
On November 15, 2022, the Crime Branch office was bustling with energy as its specially-appointed teams exposed a high-profile racket in Goa. In a marathon raid at Curti, Kundaim and Borim in Goa, and Hubli in Karnataka that lasted for around 20 hours; the CB sleuths busted the black market of PDS grains.
Around 1,014 gunny bags stuffed in a huge truck that was now parked outside the office overlooking the sea and also in a pick-up vehicle, stationed at its Ribandar complex, were seized. The CB also confiscated around 300 gunny bags from the godown at Borim allegedly belonging to the mastermind and sealed the premises for investigation.Thrilled to have cracked the mega racket, the CB continued its investigation but the enthusiasm eventually lacked. It failed to lay its hands on Sachin Naik Borkar, who the officers claimed on-record, is a habitual offender. Three months down the line, CB struggles to establish the offense.
Botched investigation?
The Crime Branch has so far failed to present a strong case for which there are many reasons. One of the reasons is Naik and his accomplice Virendra Mardolkar’s anticipatory bail. For three months, not only they gave the CB a slip while five others were soon arrested; they successfully moved the Court and secured anticipatory bail.
Claims to further expose the pilferage of grains to the neighbouring State also fell flat and the investigation speaks for itself. No charge sheets in any of the three cases are filed as of now, and to rub salt in its wound, the Judicial Magistrate First Class last week ordered the CB to release the seized grains to the accused.
Sources claim that the red-faced officers released the grains which were piled up on their premises, at the fag-end of last week.
Credible sources disclosed to The Goan that huge stocks of food grain are being siphoned off from 2017 by racketeers taking serious advantage of loopholes in the system. During this period, monthly rations were exported across the border with culprits earning a minimum of Rs 7-8 lakh per truck. The CB is tight-lipped on the investigation.
Condition of food grains
The CB lacked the facility to store the seized grains in favourable conditions. The stored grains were damaged by insect pests. Who else better than some CB personnel themselves can express their ordeal. Some of them who shared their space next to the locked room were in the recent days greeted by pests and ants until these sacks were released following the Court order.
Fear that the now-released stock will be back in the market without checking its quality lingers considering that Goa has always encountered problems with sub-standard grains. Not to forget Goa has already faced a situation wherein Tur Dal and sugar were allowed to rot in government warehouses during Covid pandemic.
Is Civil Supplies dept off the radar?
The CB was clear that dealers were procuring the grains from FPS or government warehouses at double the rate and selling them in the open market at a much-much higher price. This cannot happen without the nexus of officials from the Civil Supplies and probably some of the FPS operators.
A considerable number of Above Poverty Line category card holders do not avail of the quota but it is also true that commodities are either sold more than the quota to each family or illegally traded to non-ration card holders. Some FPS suppress information about their monthly sale and keep procuring additional quotas to allegedly sell it off illegally.
The leakage reportedly occurs while the quota is ready for distribution from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godown at Sada, Vasco where the monthly quota arrived from the Central government.
There’s another instance wherein the FPS operators are taken for a ride. In many cases, the ration shops are told by the Civil Supplies staff that they haven’t received their monthly quota from the FCI. This FPS stock is then sold to private players who export the food grain in the open markets across the boundary. The value of the same stock increases from Goa’s warehouses to Karnataka markets.
Another possibility that the ration is smuggled from the FPS located in areas where the demand is low was raised. But there’s no word from the investigators after the hyped crackdown.
