Three Markfed officials at Abohar in Punjab’s Fazilka district were arrested and charged with theft on Tuesday evening following a “hard operation” by a farmer union leader who revealed that around 100 quintals of wheat meant for the public distribution system (PDS) had been stolen from the godown. .
The incident took place at the rest area of Markfed or Punjab State Co-op Supply and Marketing Federation Ltd on Monday and Tuesday night.
According to Sukhjinder Singh Rajan, the leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union Rajewal, he and a few other farmers came to the ground floor of Markfed near the Abohar-Fazilka road on Monday night and saw the godown lying open and a trolley full of wheat. . The sacks were said to be open and the wheat was loose and loaded into a car that could hold 100 quintals of grain.
“I made noise and the tractor trolley driver tried to run over me. He managed to escape from the place, however, we chased him and managed to catch him. He was taken to the police station and taken with a tractor trolley,” said Rajan.
FIRE was opened against Avi Kumar Manchanda, Field Officer (General), Chinderpal, driver Sher Singh, and 7-8 unknown persons under section 331(4) and 305(a) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for the charges of house breaking and entering. theft of government property.
“We have arrested the driver and are investigating this matter. We are collecting information about the total stock and the people responsible for stock management,” said Manjinder Singh, Station House Officer, City 1 Police Station.
Manchanda and Markfed police assistants Steffy and Robin were arrested on Tuesday evening. As per their suspension letter, they will be given subsistence allowance and report to Markfed headquarters in Chandigarh.
On Wednesday afternoon, a team from the Markfed office in Chandigarh came to Abohar to inquire about the incident. The team was still in the city until the time of filing this report.
“It is surprising that the godown did not have cameras inside. There was very bad lighting inside the godown…this must have been going on for a long time. We were aware of this and that’s why we decided to go for surgery and find out the truth,” added Rajan.
Sandeep Jakhar, the suspended Member of Parliament from Abohar, took to X to comment on the incident. “News situation…Last night at Markfed area in Abohar, a tractor trailer was caught stealing wheat meant for PDS by Sukhjinder Singh and his team with the help of the police. Now the question is, how long has this theft been going on, who are all involved, what is the working method & who is being cut and the big question is, how will this loss (in tons) be calculated..multiply this by the number of godown’s & well…according to sources, it’s been happening for a while…,” said Jakhar. “Just yesterday, there were full advertisements of Corruption free Punjab in all newspapers, well, Bhagwan Mann saab, please ask the Vigilance Bureau to investigate, somehow they missed this scam,” he added in this post.
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