MS trader among 6 booked for smuggling PDS rice in Mancherial

Mancherial: Six persons including a trader of Maharashtra were booked for allegedly diverting rice meant for Public Distribution System (PDS) here on Sunday. As many as 30 quintals of rice, three trolleys and two auto-rickshaws were seized from auto-rickshaws seized from them. Mancherial ACP Akhil Mahajan said that the accused were Chitnala Venkatesh, Vanarasi Laxman, […]

Mancherial: Six persons including a trader of Maharashtra were booked for allegedly diverting rice meant for Public Distribution System (PDS) here on Sunday. As many as 30 quintals of rice, three trolleys and two auto-rickshaws were seized from auto-rickshaws seized from them.

Mancherial ACP Akhil Mahajan said that the accused were Chitnala Venkatesh, Vanarasi Laxman, Vanarasi Ramesh, Kadamanchi Potti, Parvatham Prashant, all daily earners belonging to NTR Nagar in Mancherial town and Veeraiah, a trader of Sironcha town in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.

Venkatesh, Laxman, Ramesh, and Potti were found to be shipping the rice grains to the store of Veeraiah during raids carried out by Sub-Inspector Kiran Kumar and his team, following a tip.

During the course of interrogations, the daily earners confessed to smuggling the rice to make a fast buck by selling the same to Veeraiah at higher rates. They admitted that they were transporting the grains by trolleys at night by hoodwinking policemen and officials of the Civil Supplies department. They revealed that they were purchasing the rice from beneficiaries at cheaper prices.

It is learned that Veeraiah, a native of Karimnagar district, settled in Sironcha only to trade the PDS rice. Reportedly, he offers monthly mamools to policemen, officials of civil supplies department and revenue department. He buys rice grains from small-time smugglers of Mancherial district who gather the same from beneficiaries of the scheme at cheaper prices.

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