PDS rice seized by police

Hyderabad: Cyberabad East SOT police on Sunday seized  25 tonnes of illegally stored PDS rice from godowns in Nacharam and Medipally. The police arrested six suspects.

Three others are absconding. The team seized 492 bags of rice, including 383 bags weighing 19 tonnes from Medipally and 109 bags weighing five tonnes from Nacharam.

SOT officials said the suspects Venu, Shankar, Akbar, Nagabushanam and Kishan are ration dealers. They buy ration rice from the beneficiaries at Rs 6 per kg.

Then they sell the rice to Yadagiri, an agent from Saroornagar for Rs 8 a kg. Satyanarayana, the mastermind behind this racket, buys rice from Yadagiri for Rs 10 per kilo. He packs the rice in gunny bags and stores them at his godowns in Medipally and Nacharam.

After procuring a truck load of rice bags, Satyanarayana sells it to agents Shekar and Venkateshwar at Rs 12 per kilo. “They carry the truck load to a rice mill. There they mix it with fine quality rice, change the packing and release it into the market. It is sold in the market as fine quality rice,” said SOT inspector N.C.H. Rangaswamy. The team handed over the arrested men and seized material to the Medipally police.