Eight accused, including senior FCI officers, charged for fraud in North Eastern Regional Agriculture Marketing Corporation deal

Delhi – A fresh corruption case has been lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation against three senior officials of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and five other individuals linked to a controversial rice allocation with the North Eastern Regional Agriculture Marketing Corporation Limited (NERMAC).

The accused include former Managing Director of the FCI Delhi region Kunhiraman Padmini Asha, former Assistant Managing Director (Sales) Brahm Prakash, former Sales Manager Amarendra Vikram, former NERMAC Managing Director Bhaskar Barua, former Additional Managing Director Anjan Kumar Dutta, and former Sub‑Manager Dilip Saha. The FIR also mentions private entrepreneurs Rajesh Bajaj of Utpalakshi Agro Products and Dibesh Commercials, and Pankaj Saraf of Super Grains, who allegedly facilitated the financial transactions.

The probe stems from a complaint lodged by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, prompting a committee to examine the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS‑D) allocation. The committee discovered that NERMAC was allotted 62,000 metric tonnes of rice, taking 50,645 metric tonnes in April 2026 at a discounted rate of ₹23,200 per metric tonne, while the reserved price stood at ₹28,900 per metric tonne.

Because NERMAC is a government‑owned enterprise, the policy requires an e‑auction for any rice allocation, a rule that was bypassed in this case. Payments were routed through a network of private millers and bulk traders, with no records verifying that the rice was delivered for the intended purpose. Had the rice been sold at the statutory price through a proper auction, the FCI could have avoided a loss of roughly ₹28.87 crore.