In a major breakthrough in the alleged paddy procurement scam during the 2025–26 season, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested five employees of three procurement agencies for their alleged involvement in issuing bogus gate passes, resulting in “ghost procurement” of paddy in Karnal district.
The arrests were made following multiple FIRs registered across various police stations in the district. The accused include Davinder Kumar, Inspector with the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department posted at Taraori; Randhir Singh, Inspector of the same department posted at Indri; Parmod Kumar, Manager at Assandh; Darshan Singh, Manager with HAFED at Nissing grain market; and Pardeep, Technical Assistant with the Haryana Warehousing Corporation posted at Indri grain market.
Confirming the action, ASP Karnal Kaanchi Singhal, who is leading the SIT probe, said the accused were arrested after sufficient evidence emerged linking them to the issuance of fake gate passes.
“They have been arrested in connection with different FIRs registered at Taraori, Butana, Assandh and Indri police stations for issuing bogus gate passes,” the ASP said.
Davinder Kumar was arrested in connection with an FIR registered at Taraori police station, Randhir Singh in a case at Butana police station, Parmod Kumar and Darshan Singh in a case registered at Assandh police station, while Pardeep was arrested in connection with an FIR lodged at Indri police station.
So far, six FIRs have been registered in connection with the alleged paddy procurement scam related to the 2025–26 season, with the latest FIR lodged at City Police Station, Karnal.
The scam surfaced during physical verification, which revealed that large quantities of paddy recorded in official documents had never actually arrived at the grain markets, indicating large-scale manipulation of procurement records.
Further investigation is underway to identify additional individuals involved in the alleged scam.
