Food scam: Cong leader arrested

LUCKNOW: The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) on Monday arrested two people, including Congress leader Daljeet Singh, in connection with the multi-thousand crore foodgrains scam in Uttar Pradesh. Daljeet, a transporter, is accused of transporting foodgrains from government godowns to private buyers, who bought the stocks in black.
But verification of some of the bills his company submitted for this purpose revealed that the registration number of the trucks mentioned in them were actually allotted to scooters, mopeds, auto-rickshaws and three wheeler tempos.
But verification of some of the bills his company submitted for this purpose revealed that the registration number of the trucks mentioned in them were actually allotted to scooters, mopeds, auto-rickshaws and three wheeler tempos. This proved that the stocks mentioned in the bills were not even transported from any of the sites as official records of the food and civil supplies department had claimed.
The arrest of the other person -- Suresh Dhar Dubey -- in the case is also seen as a result of his alleged connivance with the transporter in issuing fake bills and showing food grains been loaded on a particular truck belonging to the company. Thousands of sacks full of food grains -- each containing nearly 100 kilogram -- were shown to have been transported on paper. In reality not even a fistful of food grain was actually moved from the godown to the mentioned destination. On the contrary, in some cases, the food grains were sold off even before they reached the Mohanlalganj development block godown which Dubey managed.
Vishwanath Chaturvedi, the petitioner in the scam case, on whose petition a CBI probe was ordered by the apex court, described the arrests as sham. “It is only a cosmetic exercise. The CBI has to furnish a status report every two months before the court. The next one is slated for April 26. It is only because of this, that the agency is initiating arrests,” he said. “Two arrests in a case in which more than 2,000 persons have been named as accused itself speaks of what the CBI is doing and why.’’UP Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi has suspended with immediate effect Sardar Daljit Singh, member of All India Congress Committeee (AICC) following his reported arrest in foodgrain scam. UPCC chief spokesperson Ram Kumar Bhargava said that a detailed report in this connection would be sent to the party high command soon.