Four held, Akali leader’s son eludes arrest in paddy scam
It’s to be confirmed that Mandeep Singh Brar fled to Canada or was lodged in the Tihar Jail in a passport case after he reportedly tried to flee the country. DALBIR SINGH, Baghapurana SHO
MOGA: The son of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) senior leader Jagtar Singh Rajeana and an owner of the Avtar Rice Mill Mandeep Singh Brar eluded arrest in the 2012 paddy scam worth ₹18 crore by flying abroad two months before the district police arrested four people in this connection from Baghapurana here.
A three-member investigation team from the Special Crime Branch (SCB), headed by assistant inspector general-crime (AIG-crime), Patiala, Sushil Kumar, has submitted a report to the Baghapurana police after five years holding six people guilty in the scam.
Following the report, the Baghapurana police, on Sunday, arrested four people, including former Markfed district manager (DM) Amarjit Singh Sandhu, Baghapurana, salesman Sham Lal, Malwa Agro Foods or rice sheller owner Makhan Singh Langeana and Vakil Chand alias Vicky, an accountant of the Avtar Rice Mills while the fifth accused Markfed’s branch in-charge Kamal Kumar died in 2012.
“It is yet to confirmed that Mandeep Brar (sixth and the main accused) has fled to Canada or was lodged in the Tihar Jail in a passport case after he reportedly tried to flee the country,” Dalbir Singh, station house officer (SHO), Baghapurana, said.
However, sources said that though a lookout circular was issued against Brar, uet the latter managed to fly to Amsterdam from the Indira Gandhi International Airport after forging the boarding pass on December 4 last year.
Station house officer (SHO) Dalbir Singh said that they have taken three-day police remand of all the four accused persons and will verify where they sold the embezzled about 3,88,832 bags of paddy.
THE CASE
On February 8, the district police had booked four people ,including Avtar Rice Mill owner Mandeep Brar, and three Markfed Baghapurana officials, including Amarjit Sandhu, Kamal Kumar and Sham Lal after finding embezzlement of paddy worth ₹18 crore.
On the complaint of Harpinder Singh Dhaliwal, Markfed manager, Moga district, a case was registered under sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 120-B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act at the Baghapurana police station.
Dhaliwal had stated in the first information report (FIR) that the team of senior officials of the department inspected the rice mill on January 14 and found that the paddy procured by the agency during 2010-2011 and given for milling was missing from the mill and it was suspected that Mandeep Brar, in connivance with Markfed officials, had embezzled 338 wagons of paddy amounting to not less than ₹17.4 crore.