5 agri marketing board officials suspended for seeking bribe ›

The decision was taken after an internal investigation by the senior officer of the department. We have also asked the police to register a criminal case against the suspended officers. MANDEEP SINGH BRAR, chief administrator, HSAMB

KARNAL:WITH the district rice miller association reportedly producing an audio recording of five senior officials of Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board allegedly seeking bribe of ₹20 lakh for certifying records of mills, the chief administrator of the board, Mandeep Singh Brar, has suspended those named in the complaint.

Those suspended are marketing development officer Sunil Sharma; district marketing enforcement officer Sourabh Chaudhary; secretary, Karnal marketing board Asha Rani; Ranipur Rani mandi auction recorder Satbir Singh and Karnal mandi supervisor Arvind Taya.

“The decision was taken after an internal investigation by a senior officer of the department. We have also asked the police to register a criminal case against the suspended officers,” Brar told HT. The decision to suspend the officers came after a meeting of members of Rice Millers Association, Karnal, with Karnal deputy commissioner Aditya Dahiya and Brar.

During the meeting, millers’ association president Vinod Goel provided audio clips of the accused officials in which they were heard demanding bribe for checking the record of stock of rice mills. The internal investigation report into the complaints conducted by Karnal market committee zonal administrator Sushil Malik was also put up at the meeting.

Vinod Goel, president, Karnal Rice Millers Association said, “A few days ago, an HSAMB team paid a visit to MR Overseas Rice Mill in Kutail of Karnal district and took some documents related to the stock from the rice mill. Later, they started demanding Rs 20 lakh as bribe to return the record.” He added that they took up the matter with Karnal SDM Narendra Malik, who ordered an inquiry.

Finally, the entire episode resulted into the suspension of five officials, ordered on Monday. Interestingly, getting the Karnal Market Committee free of sleaze and graft remains a challenge with several irregularities reported every year.

Last season too, 12 officers were shifted following allegations of corruption by rice millers.