Hyderabad: A day after civil supplies officials inspected 20 wholesale outlets, criminal cases were registered against six businessmen for hoarding rice. During the inspections, officials found that while the businessmen operated retail stores at the front end, they had large godowns at the rear where substantial quantities of rice were stored.Officials said the total quantity of hoarded rice is still being assessed.“Hundreds of quintals of rice were found hoarded, and the stock will be released into the market shortly. The businessmen inflated prices through hoarding as part of a syndicate,” said K Ram Kumar, a superintendent of police-rank officer attached to the civil supplies department.During the preliminary inquiry, officials recovered that the hoarded rice included illegally diverted Public Distribution System (PDS) stock and confirmed it is PDS rice through tests at the civil supplies department’s in-house laboratory.Investigators found that some of the six businessmen allegedly involved in hoarding also owned rice mills. “During an earlier investigation, we found that some mills were empty despite millers having been supplied paddy with the expectation that they would return 65% of the quantity as rice. We suspect that the missing PDS rice was diverted by the millers to the open market. The investigation is still underway,” police officials attached to the civil supplies department said.Saroornagar police registered FIRs against the six businessmen. While six businessmen were booked for illegal hoarding following raids at 20 locations, cases were also registered against others for GST violations and allegedly misrepresenting rice quantities to cheat customers. No arrests have been made so far, and Saroornagar police are continuing their inquiry.
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