Chhattisgarh EOW files chargesheet against businessman aide in Rs 175cr rice milling scam

Raipur, Dec 9 (PTI) Rice milling scam accused Dipen Chawda, an associate of businessman Anwar Dhebar, a co-accused in the case, allegedly collected nearly Rs 20 crore from public servants, said Chhattisgarh's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in a supplementary chargesheet filed on Tuesday.

The supplementary chargesheet against Chawda, naming him as an accused in the Rs 175 crore scam, was submitted before the Special Court (Prevention of Corruption Act), Raipur, an EOW statement said.

Chawda, arrested last month, was an associate of businessman Dhebar, it said.

So far, five persons have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the scam that dates back to the previous Congress rule in the state.

"He (Chawda) was the manager of illegal funds worth over Rs 2,000 crore in other cases registered with the EOW. In the rice custom milling scam case, evidence found against Chawda showed he allegedly collected nearly Rs 20 crore from public servants," said the EOW.

In February this year, the EOW filed its first chargesheet in the case against former Managing Director of Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Marketing Federation Ltd (CG-Markfed) Manoj Soni and then treasurer of Chhattisgarh State Rice Millers Association Roshan Chandrakar, also a rice miller, officials said.

In October this year, a supplementary chargesheet was filed in the case against Dhebar and retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Anil Tuteja.

The state's EOW/Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) last year lodged an FIR in connection with an alleged rice milling scam based on a report received from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has been probing money laundering angle into the scam.

According to the state agency, investigations carried out so far have found illegal recovery worth around Rs 140 crore from rice millers in the case.

As per the ED, the rice milling scam to the tune of Rs 175 crore took place during the kharif marketing season 2021-22 when Chhattisgarh was governed by the Congress under Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

The money laundering case stems from an income-tax department chargesheet where it was alleged Chhattisgarh Rice Millers Association (CRMA) office-bearers "colluded" with officers of CG-Markfed and hatched a "conspiracy" to misuse a special incentive and earn kickbacks worth crores of rupees during kharif year 2021-2022.

Till kharif year 2021-22, the ED said, a special incentive of Rs 40 per quintal of paddy was paid by the state government to rice millers for custom milling of paddy, and this amount was "exorbitantly" increased to Rs 120 per quintal, which was paid in two instalments of Rs 60 each.

Subsequently, officials of CG-Markfed, as well as District Marketing Officers, connived with office- bearers of CRMA to extort money from rice millers. To put pressure on rice millers to cough up the extortion amount, the accused persons kept their payment bills pending without any justification, the central agency claimed.

Rice millers of the entire Chhattisgarh were forced by the association to cough up cash at a rate Rs 20 per quintal of rice milled for payment of their incentive bills. The bills of only those rice millers who paid cash to CRMA were cleared by MD, CG-Markfed, for payment. This resulted in huge cash collection from rice millers, which was used by accused persons for their personal gains, the ED alleged.

As per the previous EOW chargesheets, retired IAS officer Tuteja, in an alleged criminal conspiracy with office-bearers of CRMA, orchestrated a large-scale illegal collection of money from rice millers under the custom milling process.

Dhebar (brother of Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar), who was a politically influential figure during the previous Congress government (2018-23), played a key role in collecting, managing, and utilizing the illicit funds raised from rice millers for Tuteja, the stage agency claimed. PTI TKP RSY