A special investigation team (SIT) of Karnal police have arrested five officials of various procurement agencies for their alleged involvement in the paddy procurement scam during the 2025-26 season, DSP Meena Kumari said on Saturday.
The accused were identified as inspectors of the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department, Davinder Kumar posted at Taraori and Randhir Singh posted at Indri, HAFED manager (Assandh) Parmod Kumar, HAFED manager (Nissing) Darshan Singh and technical assistant of the Haryana Warehousing Corporation, Pardeep posted at Indri.
A police spokesperson said that all were presented before a court that sent Pardeep into a day of remand and rest into two days of remand each. So far, six FIRs have been registered in connection with the paddy scam that is estimated to be worth several crores of rupees.
The alleged scam came to light following physical verification carried out by various teams at various mandis, rice mills and other places, which revealed that large quantities of paddy shown on official records had never actually reached the grain markets.
Several farm activists and opposition parties have been criticising the state government for shielding the “real culprits” of the scam.
Speaking to the media, the DSP said that the SIT led by ASP Karnal Kaanchi Singhal, who is leading the SIT, made the arrests on Friday night. “All have been arrested in connection with different FIRs registered at various police stations. So far, it came to fore that they issued bogus gate passes after which they were arrested,” the DSP said.
Officials said that Davinder Kumar was arrested in connection with an FIR registered at Taraori police station, Randhir Singh in a case at Butana police station, Parmod Kumar and Darshan Singh in a case registered at Assandh police station, while Pardeep was arrested in connection with an FIR registered at Indri police station.
