Hoarded rice, ragi seized from black market in Bengaluru

Officials from the Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCSCA) department have seized 43 quintals of rice and ragi, meant for people from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) from black markets located in Sanjayanagar, Byappanahalli and Banashankari.

In the first case the officials seized around 12 quintals rice from Sanjayanagar on May 21. Nagaraj S, Food inspector, IRA, North Range, Vyalikaval in his complaint with Sanjayanagar police, stated that he had visited the fair price shops in Nagashettyhalli and Badrappa Layout. Around 3.15 pm he found a few packets of rice being taken in a goods vehicle. Nagaraj suspected the rice was meant for the BPL families and questioned the driver, he abaondoned the vehicle and fled. He found 24 packets, each containing 50 kg rice.

In another case, Gangadhar Swamy S, deputy director of FCSCA, East Zone and his team got information about rice meant for BPL families being illegally transported. On May 25, Gangadhar and his team noticed a goods carrying vehicle transporting the rice packets. On inspection, they found 45 bags of rice each having 40 kg of rice.

In a third instance, Sridhar K, food inspector, South Zone, got information about the food grains illegally stored in a house belonging to Jayaramu, a resident of 8th Cross, Muneshwara Temple Road, Kadirenahalli in Banashankari second stage. The officials raided the house on May 27 and found 28 packets of rice and 16 packets of ragi. Thirteen quintals of rice and 2.5 quintal ragi were seized from his house. Three separate cases are registered under the Essential Commodities Act in three different police stations. The accused are at large.