CBI Court Convicts 11 for Accepting Substandard Rice as A-Grade in Punjab
April 8, 2026
ETT News / Chandigarh
A CBI Court in SAS Nagar (Mohali) has sentenced 11 people, including former officials of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and two private rice mill partners, to three years of rigorous imprisonment in a corruption case related to the alleged acceptance of substandard rice consignments in Punjab.
The court convicted the accused on April 7 and also imposed a total fine of Rs 3.3 lakh, according to an official statement issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday.
Those convicted include Rajesh Ranjan, the then District Manager of FCI, Azad Singh, then Deputy Manager (Quality Control), and D.K. Sharma and Gian Singh, both then Assistant Managers (Quality Control) posted at the FCI District Office in Faridkot.
The court also sentenced Raj Kumar, R.C. Puri, Gulab Singh, Pitambir Singh and G.P.S. Kalra, all of whom were serving as Technical Assistants at the FCI’s Moga centre at the time of the alleged offence.
Apart from the FCI officials, the court also convicted two private individuals — Govinder Singh, partner of M/s Punjab Rice & General Mills, Moga, and Pardeep Bansal, partner of M/s R.P. Agro Industries.
The CBI had registered the case on January 7, 2006, against several FCI officials, from the Senior Regional Manager of the Punjab Region to technical staff, along with certain rice millers.
According to the agency, the case relates to the Kharif marketing season of 2004-05, when FCI officials allegedly accepted substandard rice consignments from rice millers in Punjab and falsely cleared them as “A” grade stock.
The agency alleged that the officials released payments on the basis of the false quality certification. Later, when the rice consignments were sent to different states, authorities either rejected them or accepted them as substandard, causing a significant financial loss to FCI.
The present case specifically pertains to the Moga depot in the then Faridkot district.
After completing the investigation, the CBI filed its chargesheet on November 28, 2008. Following the trial, the court convicted and sentenced all 11 accused.
CBI Court Mohali FCI Corruption Case FCI Rice Scam Punjab Substandard Rice Consignments Mohali CBI Court Verdict Rajesh Ranjan FCI FCI Faridkot Case
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