Cooperative official gets 5-year RI in paddy procurement case

A local court today sentenced a cooperative society official to five years rigorous imprisonment for committing irregularities in paddy procurement in 2011-12 in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district.
Assistant Manager, Cooperative Seva Samiti, Lendhra Ratnakar Karsh was sentenced by Chief Judicial Magistrate Sunil Kumar Nande in connection with embezzlement in paddy procurement, District Prosecution Officer Kripal Singh Gawaskar said.
In 2013, Cooperative Extension Officer SN Thakur had lodged a complaint at Baramkela Police Station against Karsh for embezzlement in paddy procurement, based on a special audit report of the Samiti.
As per challan submitted to the court, during audit of procurement centre of Samiti at Lendhra, around 12,333.16 quintal of paddy and 44,396 paddy sacks were detected less against the records which had caused a loss of over Rs 1.33 crore, Gawaskar said.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him. If the fine will not be paid, his sentence will be extended by three months, he said.