Police bust PDS rice selling racket

Hyderabad: Sleuths of the Commissioner’s Task Force, South Zone team, along with Civil Supplies officials and Bahadurpura police, apprehended three accused involved in procuring PDS rice illegally and selling it. The police seized 28 quintals of PDS rice worth about Rs 72,774 from their possession.

The officials raided ‘fair price ration shop no 190, NR no 931’ situated at Hassan Nagar, Bahadurpura. The accused colluded with the ration shop dealers, procured PDS rice illegally, and sold it to the main transporter to earn easy money.

The arrested persons were: Mir Mehraj Ali Hashmi (36), Syed Hamed (39) and Syed Shaki Hashmi (34). Syed Ataur Rahman and Mateen are absconding.

According to the police, Mehraj, in collusion with PDS dealer Hamed, hatched a plan to collect rice from the shop directly to sell to main transporter Mateen at a higher price.

As per their plan, Mehraj has been selling the rice to Hamed directly from ration shops for a long time.

On Monday, on tip-off, the Task Force team, along with Civil Supplies officials, raided the shop and apprehended the accused.