₹1.5 crore wheat scam in Faridkot, 18K bags missing

The scam that came to light after officials went for checking the godown on Friday was perpetrated in April.

After a ₹1.5 crore scam surfaced in the district Faridkot warehousing corporation on Friday, district manager Pushpinder Singh had written to the senior superintendent of police to register a First-Information Report (FIR) against a local firm, RG Traders, and their officials.

The wheat never reached the godowns of the government agency, with officials failing to ensure that a physical verification is done. (HT File/Representative Image)

The corporation has also chargesheeted warehouse inspector Nirmal Singh for the scam, in which ₹1.5 crore has been paid for buying 18,000 bags of wheat on the basis of fake entries. The wheat never reached the godowns of the government agency, with officials failing to ensure that a physical verification is done.

Officials at the firm in question, RG Traders, are accused of managing to make five fake entries in official records, of them selling these wheat bags to the warehousing corporation. The firm was registered in the name of one, Gurjant Singh, at the Faridkot grain market in 2017. He is now untraceable.

The fake entries

The scam that came to light after officials went for checking the godown on Friday was perpetrated in April. The first entry, of 627 bags on April 12; the entry for 5,550 bags was made on April 16; 4,390 bags on April 18; 5,195 bags on April 19 and 2,360 bags of wheat on April 24.

In each of these cases, the Punjab government transferred the money within 48 hours of the purchase, as mandated. The firm has withdrawn the whole amount.

District mandi officer Kulbir Singh Matta said, “We have started tracing people who stood guarantee for the firm, when they applied for licence. Warehouse corporation officials failed to do physical verification.”

Punjab Warehousing Corporation managing director Abhinav Trikha said, “We have deputed teams to look into the matter and trace the money trail.”