Mohali, April 8 -- A special CBI court in Mohali on Tuesday convicted and sentenced 11 Food Corporation of India (FCI) officials and two rice millers to three years' jail for supplying and accepting substandard rice stock and recording it as 'A-grade'.

The case dates back to September 29, 2005, when a CBI team and FCI's technical staff collected 46 samples from a depot in Moga.

The agency conducted searches at 11 locations across four states and a Union territory, including offices and residences linked to FCI staff, for an investigation into the procurement of substandard rice and alleged loss to the exchequer.

Analysis at the Central Grain Analysis Laboratory showed that none of the samples conformed to the Centre's specifications, a...