The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made a new arrest in the ongoing investigation of the alleged Rs 175 crore Chhattisgarh rice milling scam. Roshan Chandrakar, a rice miller from Kurud in Dhamtari district and former treasurer of the state rice millers association, was taken into custody on Wednesday. The ED alleges that Chandrakar, during his tenure as treasurer of the state rice millers association for the Kharif marketing season 2021-22, was involved in an organised system of collecting illegal kickbacks from rice millers. The agency's statement emphasised that the kickbacks were systematically extracted under his leadership.
Previous Arrests and Case Background
This arrest follows the ED's apprehension of Manoj Soni, a former managing director of Chhattisgarh MARKFED, last month. The roots of the money laundering case trace back to an Income Tax department charge sheet, which accused office bearers of the Chhattisgarh rice millers association of conspiring with MARKFED officials to exploit a special incentive scheme, thus generating crores of rupees in kickbacks.
Mechanics of the Scam
The special incentive scheme, initially set at Rs 40 per quintal of paddy for custom milling, was drastically increased to Rs 120 per quintal in the Kharif year 2021-22. This incentive was disbursed in two instalments of Rs 60 each. The ED claims that under Chandrakar's supervision, Rs 20 per instalment per quintal was collected as kickbacks from the rice millers.
District rice millers associations played a crucial role in this scheme. They collected the kickback amounts from individual rice millers and relayed the details of those who had paid to the respective District Marketing Officer (DMO). "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", it said. "The bills of only those rice millers who have paid cash to the association were cleared by MD, MARKFED for payment," it added.
Financial Impact
The incentive increase from Rs 40 to Rs 120 per quintal led to the generation of kickbacks exceeding Rs 100 crore, orchestrated and facilitated by Chandrakar and his associates.
(With PTI Inputs)
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