53 tonnes of sugar missing from Kushtia mill

About 53 tonnes of sugar was stolen from a godown of Kushtia Sugar Mill. A source confirmed to The Daily Star that this information came up in the investigation of the committee formed by the Ministry of Industries.

On condition of anonymity, the source further said that the report of the committee has revealed that the misdeed was committed in broad daylight.

Yesterday, a five-member committee under the leadership of Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Industries, Shivnath Roy, conducted the investigation. The other members of the committee are Anwarul Alam, joint secretary of the ministry; Ainul Haque, planning chief of Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation; Elias Sikder, deputy general manager; and Hamidul Islam, acting general manager, reports our Kushtia correspondent.

Kushtia Sugar Mill was supposed to have 121 tonnes of sugar in its latest stock statement but 53 tonnes were missing from there. The market value of the missing sugar is about Tk 33 lakh.

The matter first came to light on June 3, when a report was received regarding the current stock of the sugar mill. In the report prepared by store keeper Faridul Islam, discrepancies in the information related to stocks, sales and income was apparent.

As doubt was raised, senior officials inspected the godown and found clear evidence that 53 tonnes of sugar was missing. Faridul on June 5 was suspended as he failed to give any explanation regarding the stock mismatch within the given time.

A four-member committee headed by the factory's GM (Finance) Kalyan Kumar Debnath was formed to probe the incident. A general diary was made at Kushtia Model Police Station regarding the disappearance of sugar from the godown.

The Ministry of Industries formed a separate inquiry committee on June 6. The members of the committee started investigation from yesterday.

Sources said that they have examined the current stocks, sales and income related documents of sugar and other products produced by the mill. They have talked to current and former officers-in-charge of godown and other stores. Highly suspicious persons have been identified and interrogated. At least 10 peoples' statements have been taken.