New Delhi, May 17
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested former treasurer of the state rice millers association in the alleged Rs 175 crore Chhattisgarh rice milling scam.
The accused has been identified as Roshan Chandrakar, a rice miller based at Kurud in Dhamtari district.
The ED stated that he as treasurer of the state rice millers association during the Kharif marketing Season 2021-22. During this tenure, an organised system of collection of illegal kickbacks from the rice millers was being operated.
The money laundering case stems from an Income-tax department charge sheet where it was alleged that the office bearers of Chhattisgarh rice millers association "colluded" with officers of the State Marketing Federation Ltd (MARKFED) and hatched a "conspiracy" to misuse a special incentive and earn kickbacks worth crore of rupees.
The officials said that during the Kharif year 2021-22, a special incentive of Rs 40 per quintal of paddy was paid by the state government to the rice millers for custom milling of paddy and this amount was "exorbitantly" increased to Rs 120 per quintal of paddy which was paid in two installments of Rs 60 each.
The office bearers of Chhattisgarh State Rice Millers Association under the leadership of its treasurer Chandrakar "started collecting kickbacks" amounting to Rs 20 per instalment for each quintal of paddy milled from the rice millers. The DMOs, upon receiving the bills of rice millers, cross-checked with the details received from the concerned district rice millers association and this information was then passed on to the head office of MARKFED, ED added.
After the increase in the special incentive from Rs 40 to Rs 120 per quintal, "kickbacks" in excess of Rs 100 crore were generated which were orchestrated and facilitated by Chandrakar
