Four individuals have been detained as an inquiry into claims that government rice intended for ethanol output in Madhya Pradesh was redirected has extended into neighboring Maharashtra. The special team has taken into custody four suspects, among them truck operators, a carrier and an ethanol facility worker. Roughly 20 vehicles suspected of transporting the redirected rice have been impounded, and about 40 others including mill operators, carriers and plant staff have been questioned. Notices have also gone to six rice mills in Balaghat and Seoni districts of Madhya Pradesh plus Gondia district in Maharashtra. The case began after the Food Corporation of India reported that a subsidized shipment sent from its Navegaon warehouse in Balaghat to an ethanol plant in Chhindwara was instead found at a mill in Waraseoni. Authorities are reviewing records and data to trace each load and determine who benefited. Up to five lakh metric tonnes of rice valued above ₹1,000 crore may have been involved. The rice was meant for the national ethanol blending program under which surplus stocks are sold at a subsidized rate to distilleries.
