E-Paper
21 years on, 3 ex-FCI officials among 5 jailed in Jalalabad substandard rice case
The court sentenced former FCI officials Amit Kumar and Sanjay Kumar Juneja to four-year rigorous imprisonment under Section 420 (cheating) read with Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
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Over 21 years after they passed off substandard rice as Grade-A stock during the 2005 procurement season, a special CBI court in Mohali on Thursday jailed five people, including three former Food Corporation of India (FCI) officials.
The court sentenced former FCI officials Amit Kumar and Sanjay Kumar Juneja to four-year rigorous imprisonment under Section 420 (cheating) read with Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They also received one-year rigorous imprisonment under Section 120-B, along with a fine of ₹25,000 each.
Both sentences will run concurrently.
Millers Raman Lal Meena, Sanjiv Kumar and Rajnish Kumar were sentenced to one-year and nine-month rigorous imprisonment each under Section 201 (disappearance of evidence) read with Section 120-B of the IPC. Meena was fined ₹10,000, while Sanjiv and Rajnish were fined ₹15,000 each. The court set off the period already spent in custody for all five convicts.
The case dates back to September 29, 2005, when a joint surprise check at FCI’s Jalalabad centre uncovered the corruption.
While convicting the five accused on Tuesday, special judge Baljinder Singh Sra acquitted 12 others.
During the sentencing hearing on Thursday, the five convicts sought leniency, citing their age, medical conditions, family responsibilities and the nearly 20 years they had spent facing trial. Meena, 75, said he suffered from diabetes, a heart condition and memory loss. The others also cited health problems and said they were the sole breadwinners for their families.
Opposing leniency, CBI prosecutor Anmol Narang argued that all 26 samples collected from the centre had failed quality checks. Fifteen exceeded the limits under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and were found unfit for human consumption, while 11 were beyond the rejection limit. The prosecutor also referred to a January 13, 2006, government report which estimated the value of below-rejection-limit rice stocks received in Punjab at around ₹671 crore before liquidation.
The court considered the submissions before awarding the sentences. It had earlier held that the millers deliberately represented substandard rice as Grade-A stock and that officials colluded in its acceptance. It rejected the defence argument that the rice had deteriorated during storage, noting that the stocks were kept in covered godowns and inspection records did not indicate poor storage conditions.
