“ED, Raipur has arrested Manoj Soni, the then MD MARKFED, one of the prime accused in the Custom Rice Milling Scam of Chhattisgarh on April 30,” the ED said.
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The Enforcement Directorate has arrested a former special secretary of the food department, Manoj Soni, in connection with its probe into the alleged Rs 175 crore rice milling scam in Chhattisgarh, the agency said on Wednesday.
“ED, Raipur has arrested Manoj Soni, the then MD MARKFED, one of the prime accused in the Custom Rice Milling Scam of Chhattisgarh on April 30,” the ED said.
Soni, at present special secretary, mantralaya, was arrested from the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) office, where he had been summoned for questioning in connection with the rice scam case registered by ACB/EOW.
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Soni was taken into custody and produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Raipur where the agency will seek his custody for interrogation.
The federal agency had last year said in a statement that Rs 175 crore bribes were generated through this alleged scam for the “benefit of higher powers”.
“…in this process, corruption was done on a large scale and money was collected on the basis of per quintal. Various government officials misused their position and colluded with the rice millers and received undue benefits, causing financial loss to the government,” it said.
The agency has earlier said in a statement that its case stems from a complaint filed by the Income Tax Department before a court in Raipur.
In its complaint, the IT department had alleged that the office bearers of the Chhattisgarh rice millers association “colluded” with officers of the state marketing federation Ltd (MARKFED) and “hatched a conspiracy to misuse the special incentive where Rs 40 per quintal of paddy was paid by the state government to rice millers for custom milling of rice”.
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