Rice and wheat for poor siphoned off, 3 arrested in Hailakandi

April 16: The district police has arrested some persons in connection with the siphoning off rice and flour wheat meant for the poor in Hailakandi on Wednesday. Revealing it, Superintendent of Police, Pabindra Kumar Nath said a huge quantity of rice and wheat was recovered from 299 Berakhalerpar LP School under Mohanpur Part II of Algapur circle on Wednesday. “45 bags of rice and five bags of wheat flour, each bag containing 50 kg of grains, weighing around 2500 kgs have been recovered from the school used as a godown,” said Nath.

When the police personnel reached the site, they found the main door of the school locked from outside. When they opened it, they found a person inside with stockpiles of embezzled essential commodities. Police is on a hot trail of the absconding fair price shop dealer, Ainul Hoque, who happens to be an Anchalik Panchayat member and President of the School Management Committee of the LP School, in which the food grains were concealed.

Nath said Ainul, who had stated on Tuesday before OC, Algapur that he had received 12 quintals of rice only in March and April, was making a ‘blatant lie’ as the police recovered 22.5 quintals of rice and 2.5 quintals of wheat flour from the concealed location. The police also conducted a search operation in his house. The SP said the foodgrains stored in the school would have found their way in the open market had the police not acted timely.

Following the unearthing of misappropriation of NFSA rice by the Secretary of Mohonpur GPSS Limited, Aftabuddin Laskar worth Rs.40 lakh, the district police is pursuing the case vigorously with raids being conducted at some places leading to recovery of stockpiles of food grains and arrests being made ‘as it was a clear cut case of theft and embezzlement’.

Two cases have been registered in Algapur PS 100/2020 under Sections 420/409 IPC read with the Essential Commodities Act,1955 and 107/2020 under Sections 420/409/294/352/34 IPC on Wednesday. A person named Samsiruddin Sheikh has been arrested from the location on Wednesday. Earlier, two persons had been arrested in connection with the aforesaid cases and forwarded to judicial custody. Further investigation is on.