PD Act invoked against Mancherial rice miller over Rs 15-cr CMR diversion

Police have invoked the Preventive Detention Act against Mancherial rice miller Gampa Santhosh Kumar for allegedly diverting CMR rice worth nearly Rs 15 crore. He was shifted to Cherlapally central prison after authorities found significant shortfalls in mandatory rice returns.

Mancherial: Police invoked the Preventive Detention (PD) Act against a rice miller on charges of diversion of CMR rice in Kingapur village. An order to this effect was issued by Ramagundam Commissioner of Police Amber Kishore Jha on Friday. The detainee miller, Gampa Santhosh Kumar from Lingapur village, allegedly diverted rice worth nearly Rs 15 crore and sold it in the black market. He was immediately shifted to the central prison at Cherlapally in Hyderabad.

Police said that 9,244 metric tonnes of paddy were handed over to Ramlaxman Rice Mill Industries, co-owned by Santosh, in the 2022-23 and 2024-25 Rabi seasons. The mill returned 1,833 MT of rice against the mandatory quantity of 6,286 MT. Enquiries revealed that Santosh diverted 6,170 MT of paddy, causing a loss of Rs 15.14 crore to the government.

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Santosh was already booked for alleged diversion of CMR relating to the 2025 and 2026 agriculture seasons. Despite the cases, Santosh continued to divert rice. Accordingly, action was initiated against the miller under Section 3 (1) and 3 (2) of the Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, 1980.