Mira Road: Duo held for black-marketing of food grains meant for poor

The alertness shown by an on-duty beat marshal attached to the Mira Road police station, led to the arrest of two alleged black-marketers who were caught ferrying food grains meant for the poor. The incident has yet again exposed that food grains supplied by the central government meant to be distributed under the public distribution system (PDS) is being diverted to the black market, indicating the presence of an organised gang of racketeers in the twin-city.

According to the police, the beat marshal identified as Dhiraj Wagh was on patrolling duty when he spotted a suspicious delivery tempo in the Beverly Park area of Mira Road. Wagh intercepted the tempo and questioned both the occupants including the driver identified as Mohammed Shahid Khan (22) and Nawalkishore Vaishnav (37) about the consignment.

The duo was neither able to satisfactorily give replies to questions posed by the cop, nor could they provide any documents to authenticate that they were authorized to ferry the PDS food grains, following which the tempo was seized and both taken into custody. After inspection and confirmation by rationing officers, the Mira Road police booked the duo under the relevant sections of the Essential Commodities Act, National Food Security Act, PDS (control) order and Maharashtra Scheduled Commodities (Regulations & Distribution) Order.

Apart from the tempo, the seized consignment includes 50 bags containing 2500 kilograms of commodities including rice and wheat, all worth more than Rs. 5 lakh.

“Yes, our team inspected the gunny bags and the police are now conducting further investigations. Meanwhile, we as our routine procedure continue to inspect the supply, sale and stock registers of all PDS shops in the region,” said a rationing officer, seeking anonymity. The Mira Road police are conducting a detailed probe into the matter.