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CBI chargesheets 5 FCI officials

The Central Bureau of Investigation, or CBI, has filed chargesheets against 14 persons, including five Food Corporation of India, or FCI, officials, for criminal conspiracy in siphoning off public distribution system, or PDS, grains meant for northeastern Indian state of Sikkim.

In two separate chargesheets filed by the CBI, under the Prevention of Corruption Act, in the court of the special judge at Gangtok, the agency said it detected anomalies in diversion of grains between December 1997 to January 1998 during a surprise raid at the FCI godown at Rangpoo on the Sikkim-West Bengal border in February 1998.

The raids revealed that more than Rs 1.6 million worth of grains released from the FCI godowns outside Sikkim never reached the Himalayan state.

The chargesheet exposed a nexus between FCI officials, transporters and blackmarketeers to sell part of Sikkim's quota under the PDS in Siliguri market. The CBI officials believe that close to 30 per cent of Sikkim's quota of PDS grains was diverted in this manner.

The accused include the then assistant manager of FCI Santosh Kumar Halder, FCI Rangpoo godown staff Shyam Kishore, Siv Narayan Razak, Norbu Sherpa and godown gateman Bhim Bahadur Gurung. The CBI also chargesheeted two prominent Siliguri-based transporters, Om Prakash Periwal and Ratan Kumar Garg.

UNI

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