Guwahati, Mar 22 (PTI) Nine persons have been arrested in connection with the fertilizer scam in Assam, a police spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had directed the CID to conduct an inquiry into the procurement and distribution of urea in the state to bring out alleged irregularities.

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Accordingly, the Criminal Investigation Department conducted the inquiry in February, 2022 and submitted a report on the large-scale irregularities in the disbursement and sale of fertilizers.

After perusing the report, the chief minister had directed the CID to register a criminal case and conduct a thorough investigation.

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Raids were conducted by CID at various places in Morigaon, Kamrup, Darrang, Cachar, Goalpara and Darrang districts recently and nine persons have been arrested so far, the spokesperson said.

Eight of the arrested are owners of various retail outlets who were selling the urea at a much higher price than the rate stipulated by the government and those who were hoarding and diverting them to middlemen or traders.

The owner of a truck who used to transfer the diverted urea has also been arrested, the spokesperson said.

All the accused are currently in CID custody after being produced before the Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court.

According to government rules, a bag of urea must be sold at Rs. 266, whereas these wholesalers and retailers have been selling the fertilizer at a higher rate of around Rs. 350 to Rs 450 per bag.

The inquiry also revealed that these retailers who can sell the urea only to farmers of their panchayat, were selling it to others.

The investigation also found that some of the retailers were hoarding urea to create an artificial scarcity and then selling the fertilizer at a much higher price.

The role of officials of the agriculture department was also under scrutiny.

The investigation is going on a day-to-day basis and is being closely supervised by the senior officers, the spokesperson added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)