Mohali: A special CBI court in Mohali has convicted and sentenced 30 persons, including 14 Food Corporation of India (FCI) officials and 16 private rice millers, in connection with the 2004-05 Punjab Rice Procurement Scam.According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the accused were found guilty of criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The FCI officials were also convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The sentences range from one to three years of rigorous imprisonment, along with fines.The case relates to a criminal conspiracy between FCI officials and private rice millers during the 2004-05 kharif season. Under the arrangement, substandard rice was allegedly accepted as Grade-A rice at FCI centres in Malerkotla, Sunam and Tapa in Sangrur district. This resulted in wrongful payments to rice millers and financial losses to the FCI.The irregularities came to light during joint surprise checks conducted by the CBI in Sept 2005. Laboratory examination of rice samples confirmed that the consignments did not conform to the prescribed quality specifications. The CBI registered a case on Jan 7, 2006.The court pronounced judgments against three groups, comprising 10, six and 14 persons, respectively.The first group comprised five FCI officials and five private rice millers. FCI officials Varinder Rajput, Girdari Lal and KP Singh, all then technical assistants, and Raunaq Ali and RN Sharma, then assistant managers (quality control), were sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 15,000 each.Among the private rice millers, Harish Kumar, Rajnish Kumar and Rakesh Goyal were sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 25,000 each. Ramesh Singla and Narinder Kumar were sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 each.The second group comprised three FCI officials and three private rice millers. FCI officials RC Verma, then assistant manager (quality control), Som Pal Singh and K L Gulati, then technical assistants, were sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 15,000 each.Among private rice millers, Kewal Krishan was sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 10,000. Hari Ram and Jiwan Lal were each sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000.The third group comprised six FCI officials and eight private persons. FCI officials Gurmail Singh, then deputy manager (quality control), R S Sirohi, then assistant manager (quality control), and Ramesh Kumar, Harinder Singh, Harish Kumar and Satnam Singh, then technical assistants, were sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 15,000 each.Among private persons, Budh Ram, Pardeep Sharma, and Bhushan Kumar were sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 each.Vinod Kumar, Bharat Bhushan, Ashok Kumar, Surinder Kumar, and Ramesh Kumar were sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 each, the CBI said.
