BHOPAL: More soil than moong was found in bags of government-procured green gram during a surprise inspection at a private warehouse in Madhya Pradesh's Narmadapuram district, exposing an alleged adulteration of over Rs 28 crore worth of pulses.
The development comes days after thousands of moong farmers from Narmadapuram, Harda, Raisen and Sehore staged protests in Bhopal on July 28 and 29, demanding 100 per cent government procurement of their crop. The agitation ended on July 30 after the state government announced that it would procure 60 per cent of the crop at the minimum support price (MSP).
A district administration team led by an SDM conducted the inspection at Kanakdhara Warehouse in Makhan Nagar, where high-quality moong procured from farmers during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons was stored.
The inspection found more soil and less moong in several bags. A subsequent probe revealed that high-quality moong had allegedly been mixed with soil and pebbles, causing a loss of over 31,000 quintals of moong worth Rs 28.14 crore to the government.
According to Narmadapuram District Collector Somesh Mishra, “Based on the probe, an FIR was registered at Makhan Nagar Police Station by the authorities against the concerned warehouse’s owner Taresh Purohit, besides Shyam Honsale, who was then branch manager of the MP State Warehousing and Logistics Corporation and the Corporation’s district manager Vasudev Wawande, who are on the run now.”
“Initially a case of criminal breach of trust with respect to government property (the Moong procured from farmers) and cheating has been registered against three persons. The number of accused in the case may increase, as the investigations progress in the case,” Narmadapuram district police superintendent Saikrishna S Thota said.
Official sources told TNIE that complaints had been made against the warehouse over the past two years, but officials of the State Warehousing and Logistics Corporation allegedly failed to take action, resulting in the adulteration and loss of government-procured moong.
“There were many bags in which there was only soil and pebbles in place of the high-quality Moong, while in a large number of sacks, there was more soil and sand and less Moong,” an official source confided.
Officials suspect that a large quantity of the government-procured high-quality moong was diverted and sold in the private market after being replaced with soil and pebbles.
Police have registered a case under Sections 316(5) and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against warehouse owner Taresh Purohit, Shyam Honsale and Vasudev Wawande, officials of the MP State Warehousing and Logistics Corporation, on charges of criminal breach of trust and cheating.
Taresh Purohit is reportedly the brother of a local BJP leader in Narmadapuram district.
