A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mohali, Punjab, has sentenced five people, including a retired Food Corporation of India (FCI) official and four rice mill proprietors, to imprisonment in a rice procurement case linked to the Jalalabad centre in Ferozepur district and dating back to the 2004-05 procurement season. The court awarded rigorous imprisonment ranging from one year to four years and also imposed fines, Punjab Khabarnama reported on Friday, November 6. The Tribune also reported the verdict the same day under the headline 'FCI ex-official gets jail in rice procurement case'.
Source: Punjab Khabarnama, Nov 6, 2026
Among those convicted is Raman Lal Meena, 75, a retired Assistant Grade-I (AG-I) official who was associated with the FCI Depot and District Office in Moga. The court sentenced Meena to one year of rigorous imprisonment and a fine for causing disappearance of evidence and criminal conspiracy. Two proprietors of Galhotra Industries at Jalalabad West — Sanjiv Kumar, 53, and Rajnish Kumar, 56 — also received one-year rigorous imprisonment sentences for offences relating to disappearance of evidence and criminal conspiracy.
Source: Punjab Khabarnama, Nov 6, 2026
Amit Kumar, proprietor of RK Industries in Jalalabad, received the maximum punishment among the five — four years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine. Sanjay Kumar of JK Rice Mills, Jalalabad West, was sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment for cheating and criminal conspiracy. The exact fine amounts were not given in the reports.
Source: Punjab Khabarnama, Nov 6, 2026
What the case was about
According to the case details reported, the irregularities took place at FCI's Unit-II procurement centre in Jalalabad during 2004-05. The investigation found that the stack-wise register maintained at the centre had allegedly been altered and the position of a rice contract changed in the official records; the contract related to the sole consignment of rice supplied by Galhotra Rice Mill to the FCI. During a joint surprise inspection, the CBI collected samples from the rice stack and sent them to the Central Grain Analysis Laboratory, where analysis found the samples exceeded the prescribed Fair Average Quality (FAQ) limits — the standards used to decide whether grain meets government procurement specifications.
Source: Punjab Khabarnama, Nov 6, 2026
The CBI filed its chargesheet on April 25, 2011, and the case then proceeded through trial. While five accused were convicted, the court acquitted 12 others of all charges: Sardul Singh, Ramnik Kumar, Parvesh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Vimal Sidana, Darshan Lal, Ashwani Kumar, Hans Raj, Sanjeev Kumar, son of Hukam Chand, Harpreet Kamboj, Balbir Chand and Pawan Kumar.
Source: Punjab Khabarnama, Nov 6, 2026
The FCI is India's central foodgrain agency, responsible for procuring grain, maintaining buffer stocks and supplying the public distribution system, so the quality of rice accepted at procurement centres directly affects grain that later reaches welfare programmes. The Mohali judgment is the latest in a series of long-pending Punjab cases over alleged irregularities in FCI rice procurement and quality assessment.