Raids across 15 districts since July 20 found as many as 50 rice mills that neither held stock nor had returned custom-milled rice to the government.

Six rice traders in Hyderabad have been booked for hoarding after officials found large stocks, including diverted Public Distribution System (PDS) rice, in godowns hidden behind their retail shops. Some of them also own rice mills, which officials suspect were used to siphon PDS rice into the open market.

According to The Times of India, Saroornagar police registered First Information Reports (FIRs) against the six after the Civil Supplies Department inspected 20 wholesale outlets. Officials said the traders ran shops at the front while the godowns at the rear held substantial quantities of rice. The total quantity is still being assessed.

K Ram Kumar, a superintendent of police-rank officer attached to the department, said hundreds of quintals were found hoarded and the stock would be released into the market shortly. “The businessmen inflated prices through hoarding as part of a syndicate,” he said.

Tests at the department’s in-house laboratory confirmed that part of the seized rice was PDS stock, officials said.

Karmanghat raids

Siasat.com reported on Thursday, October 29, that civil supplies officials were raiding rice depots in Karmanghat. In a video shared online, a miller was heard telling officials that a mafia sells polished ration rice as fine rice at Rs 80 to Rs 100 per kg. Officials lifted rice samples for testing. A Saroornagar police official told Siasat.com that a case would be registered on the department’s complaint.

Mills under suspicion

Police officials attached to the department said some of the accused own mills that were found empty in an earlier investigation, despite being supplied paddy and being expected to return 65 per cent of it as rice. “We suspect that the missing PDS rice was diverted by the millers to the open market,” they said.

Siasat.com had earlier reported that raids across 15 districts since July 20 found as many as 50 rice mills that neither held stock nor had returned custom-milled rice to the government, in what officials described as a Rs 500 crore paddy scam.

Cases have also been registered against other traders for Goods and Services Tax (GST) violations and for allegedly misrepresenting rice quantities to cheat customers. No arrests have been made so far, and Saroornagar police are continuing their inquiry.