Karnal rice miller surrenders in Rs 5.09 cr embezzlement case

Tribune News Service

Karnal, October 11

Naresh Kumar, MD of Ram Dev International Company, has surrendered before the Karnal police in connection with an alleged embezzlement of custom milled rice (CMR) worth Rs 5.09 crore with the Food and Civil Supplies Department.

He has been sent to seven-day police remand.

The company has three rice milling plants, eight sorting and grading units in the district with offices in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Delhi.

The police had to recover money of the fraud case along with the whereabouts of the other accused.

In May, the CBI had registered a case against Kumar and two other directors — Suresh Kumar and Sangita — following a complaint by the SBI on February 25. The SBI alleged that the directors had removed the machinery from the old plant and fudged the balance sheets to unlawfully gain at the cost of banks’ funds of around Rs 173 crore.

SP Ganga Ram Punia said Kumar was absconding in connection with a case registered on July 19, 2016, on the complaint of the then DFSC. He has surrendered in the embezzlement of paddy CMR worth Rs 5.09 crore.

“Kumar is in police remand till October 16,” he said, adding that the accused had fled to Dubai.

As per the FIR, a case was registered against Naresh Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Ajay Kumar, Raj Kumar, Subhash Chand and Pawan on the complaint of the then DFSC on July 19, 2016, for not returning the CMR of the year 2015-16 worth Rs 5.09 crore. Despite several reminders by the department, the accused did not give any satisfactory answer about the embezzlement of 19,615.95 quintal CMR, the FIR said.

Sources said he was absconding in the FIR registered by the CBI. Moreover, the Karnal Arhtiyas Association had also filed a complaint against the firm for duping 111 arhtiyas belonging to the Karnal grain market of Rs 9.54 crore in 2016. They had alleged that the firm had purchased paddy from the arhtiyas of the Karnal grain market in 2014, but did not clear their dues.