NIA raids at 76 locations in major crackdown on gangsters

The CBI on Tuesday launched searches at 50 locations in Punjab as part of its probe into allegations of corruption against Food Corporation of India officials who procured inferior grains to benefit merchants and rice millers, officials said.  The CBI teams started coordinated raids at the premises of grain merchants, rice mill owners, and serving and retired officials of the FCI as part of 'Operation Kanak 2', they said. The operation was spread across Mansa, Hoshiarpur, Mukerian, Roopnagar, Patiala, Sirhind, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Moga, Firozpur, Ludhiana, Sangrur etc at the premises of FCI officials, private rice millers and grain merchants, they said.Premises of several influential grain merchants and 'adhtiya' (agents), including Avtar Singh, Deepak Tay, Naresh Kumar Pradhan, Jaswinder Singh Rana, Vijay Kalra, Harbans Singh Roha, Sadhuram Bhat, Satnam Behru and Harwinder Singh Lakhowal were searched during the operation, officials said.  "Incriminating documents and digital devices have so far been recovered during searches. The operation was launched to break the nexus of channelized corruption in FCI involving officials of the corporation, private rice millers and grain merchants," a CBI spokesperson said.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday conducted raids at 76 locations across eight states. During the raids, NIA seized a large cache of arms and ammunition and cash of over two crore rupees. The raids were conducted in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The agency said, these raids, focused on arms suppliers and hawala operators working with these gangs, led to the recovery of nine illegal weapons, including pistols, revolvers and rifles. Incriminating material, including documents, hard drives and mobile phones were also seized.
The investigations have revealed that many criminals, who were leading gangsters in India, had fled to countries like Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia and Australia. The NIA said, they were planning their crimes from there in association with criminals lodged in jails in different states. These groups were carrying out targeted killings and raising funds for their nefarious activities through the smuggling of drugs and weapons, hawala and extortions.