Jalandhar, June 6 -- The Enforcement Directorate on Friday carried out searches on the premises of Punjab Basmati Rice Limited (PBRL) and its directors in Amritsar in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act probe linked with fraudulent sale of rice worth Rs.174.89 crore. The ED probe stems from an FIR registered by the Central of Bureau of Investigation in 2020 against the owners and directors of PBRL, including Manjit Singh Makhni, his wife, Jasmeet Kaur, their son Kulwinder Singh Makhni, and unidentified public servant (s) on the recommendation of the Reserve Bank of India. "The raids are still on and details of any sort of recovery will be shared later," an official said. The complaint against the firm directors was originally filed by the Chandigarh circle office of Canara Bank on June 1, 2020. The bank alleged that the accused disposed of rice stock, the prime security with the bank against credit default, without prior intimation or approval, thereby causing it a wrongful loss to the tune of Rs.174.89 crore. Forensic audits, disclosing the fraudulent diversions of funds and serious irregularities in the operations of PBRL, were also attached with the complaint. It was alleged that the rice was sold to two Ludhiana-based traders having the same address, which raised eyebrows. It was also alleged that two PBRL directors Jasmeet Kaur and Manjeet Singh Makhni resigned from the company on January 8, 2019, in violation of one of the terms and conditions of sanction of credit facilities. Following the complaint, the CBI, on June 29, 2020, registered an FIR under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused....