The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday arrested Shubham Kumar Chaudhary, a wanted accused in a government grain procurement fraud case, near the Charbagh foot overbridge in Lucknow’s Naka police station area.
Shubham, a native of Sehuda Khurd in Basti district, carried a reward of Rs50,000 on his head and had been absconding for months. He was wanted in a case involving financial embezzlement of approximately Rs12 lakh at a paddy and wheat procurement center in Semhrani, Siddharthnagar, operated by the District Cooperative Federation (DCF).
Shubham formerly worked at Sohrab Rice Mill before being appointed in charge of the procurement center. Investigations revealed that during his tenure, significant funds meant for grain procurement were misappropriated, leading to his booking under BNS Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 467, 468, and 471 (forgery-related charges).
After the case was registered at the Shivnagar-Didai police station, Shubham fled to Mumbai to evade arrest. Acting on intelligence regarding absconding criminals, Deputy SP Avnishwar Chandra Srivastava led a special team that tracked and arrested Shubham.
“During interrogation, he admitted to the financial embezzlement,” said Srivastava. Shubham has been handed over to the Siddharthnagar police for further legal proceedings.
