APL wheat scam 2012: Ludhiana court awards five years in jail to 13, four others get 4 years

Advocate S S Haidar, counsel for acquitted Sanjay Attri, said: “Majority of those who have been convicted are depot holders. My client was just an employee of one of the depot holders and had no link with the scam.”

The court order read, “The prosecution has successfully discharged its onus of proving beyond shadow of reasonable doubts a criminal conspiracy entered by these accused with accused Jaspal Singh (since deceased), in-charge, Punjab Agro Godown, Machhiwara and accused Harjinder Singh Rai (since deceased), in-charge PUNGRAIN godown, Ludhiana, from where release orders were issued, in getting released 1,110 bags of APL Wheat from Punjab Agro Godown at Machhiwara through forged and fabricated gate passes to misappropriate the same and convert it to their personal use without it being distributed to the ration card holders from their concerned depots… and corresponding wrongful loss to Punjab Agro, forging gate passes, a valuable security, through which, huge quantity of wheat stood released, using those forged and fabricated gate passes as genuine, knowing fully them to be forged and fabricated, the accused depot holders have committed an offence punishable.”

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau, Ludhiana wing, registered an FIR in the case on September 1, 2012, for cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and other offences under several IPC Sections and under Section 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

Over 1,100 wheat bags confiscated from four trucks were allegedly sold to private flour mill owners for sale in open market. These bags were meant for distribution under public welfare scheme.

The trucks were allegedly loaded with the bags at government-owned Punjab Agro’s Machhiwara godown in Ludhiana and the consignee of the bags was government agency PUNGRAIN, as per the vigilance probe.

However, Manpreet Singh, then inspector, PUNGRAIN, in his statement had said the agency had “no concern with apprehended trucks”.

According to the prosecution submission in the court, the vigilance probe had also established that “Punjab Agro, Machhiwara, godown in-charge Jaspal Singh in connivance with private persons Rishu Singla and Anil Tandon sold the government wheat to private flour mills, meant to be dispatched under the APL scheme to the public.”

The 13 accused sentenced to five years in prison include: Subhash Chander alias Subhash Chand Garg, owner of Shanti Flour and General Mill, Jugiana; Ashutosh Goyal, owner, PV Trading Company, Ahmedgarh; and depot holders Prince Soni , Rajinder Kumar , Pardeep Kumar, Kulvir Singh, Naresh Kumar, Javed Ali, Pargat Singh, Om Parkash, Shakti Kumar, Parveen Kumar and Hardeep Kumar.

Four depot holders sentenced to four years in prison include Jatinder Kumar, Lalit Aggarwal, Chander Kanta and Laxmi Gosain.

Five among 30 accused who died during the proceedings include: Jaspal Singh, then inspector, Punjab Agro Machhiwara; then PUNGRAIN inspector Harjinder Singh Rai, depot holders Darshan Lal, Shanti Devi and Mohan Singh.

Another accused Vandana Kalia, a depot holder, was declared a proclaimed offender while proceedings were dropped against one Amandeep Singh, also a depot holder.

The six acquitted accused include: Sanjay Garg (associated with Shanti Flour Mill), private persons Rishu Singla, Anil Kumar Tandon, Anil Kumar, Sanjay Attri and Surinder Goyal.

The erstwhile APL wheat scheme refers to the distribution of subsidised wheat through the Public Distribution System (PDS) to households that fall above the state-defined poverty line but still require food security support.