Police, who have been conducting sporadic raids in the city following a tip-off on April 3, have now confirmed that the three quintals they stumbled upon at the residence of one Sheikh Hamid (26) in the Misarwadi area was only a handful of the quantity being diverted to the open market by the contractor, Dinesh Tarachand Bawankar (40).

Both Hamid and his associate Sikander Pathan (30) have been arrested and released on bail but Bawankar, who is the son-in-law of former deputy mayor, Dr Vijaykumar Mehr (BJP), has secured anticipatory bail from the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court. All three have been charged under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention) of theIndian Penal Code. While CIDCO police are continuing their investigations, the District Supply Office under instructions from the police are still weighing thousands of quintals of rice stored by Bawankar in four godowns in various parts of the district.

Investigating Officer, Inspector S S Deshmukh told The Indian Express that none of the 1,000-odd schools under Bawankar's jurisdiction had received a single grain of rice since January, which is when isolated complaints from headmasters and the Zilla Parishad's Education Department began trickling in. In fact, Education Officer, Laxmikant Pande says he had complained about the sub-standard quality of rice to the then District Supply Officer, Kamalkar Phund, but to no avail.

Deshmukh says Bawankar had been awarded three separate contracts for the supply of about 10,000 quintals per month to the schools under the following jurisdictions: Aurangabad Municipal Corporation limits (approx 500 schools), Aurangabad rural (218) and the nearby Gangapurtehsil (226).

The contracts, which cover the June 1998-April 1999 academic year, are part of the Centre's Mid-Day Meal scheme, which is implemented by the State Government. As per the scheme, every primary school student who has a minimum 80 per cent attendance is entitled to 3 kg of free rice per month.

Police first raided Hamid's Misarwadi residence on April 3 following a tip-off that some stolen grain had been stocked there. During their inspection, they found 23 bags of rice, each comprising 3 kg. During interrogation, Hamid disclosed that some more bags had been stashed away at the residence of a friend, Sikander Pathan, who in turn revealed that the grain was actually meant for school children. It was only then that the trail led to Bawankar, who by then had already secured anticipatory bail. Police have since discovered that Bawankar had stored the grain for supply under the scheme in four godowns, including one at the premises of his father-in-law.

On April 5, police learnt that Habib and oneSuresh Nalwade, residents of Misarwadi, had sold some stolen rice in the area. A search of their houses unearthed about 16 quintals more. Both confessed to having procured the rice from Bowankar.

The additional district collector in charge of the Supply Division, Capt Ramesh Mahajan, has announced that schools which have not received their quota of rice under the scheme since the last four months will be compensated via fair price outlets to be opened on their premises. These outlets will be opened on April 30 and May 1, when most schools declare their results.

Interestingly, state Food and Civil Supplies Minister Haribhau Bagade represents Aurangabad district in the Legislative Assembly.