Imphal, Feb. 11: The three officials of the Manipur food and civil supplies department, abducted by an outfit for alleged misappropriation of paddy meant for the poor, were freed on Monday night after the rebels found their crime “pardonable”.

Two of the three officials today turned up at the office of food minister Yumkham Erabot Singh after he announced that an inquiry was on to find out if any rice was indeed missing from the department’s godowns.

The supply officers of Imphal West, S. Iboton Singh, Imphal East W. Deven Singh and Bishnupur Th. Bhumeshore Singh, went missing January 30.

On February 5, the United Peoples Party of Kangleipak claimed that the officials were in their custody and that they had been picked up for questioning regarding misappropriation of rice.

Iboton Singh and Bhumeshore Singh told the media today that they were all freed on February 9 without any harm. The other official did not turn up at the news conference.

The outfit yesterday issued a statement stating that the officials were freed as their wrongdoings were “pardonable”.

But the family and police could not confirm if they had reached home or not till late evening.

The outfit also accused the food and civil supplies minister and the commissioner of the department, S. Budhachandra Singh, for misappropriating rice meant for distribution among above poverty line card holders.

It asked the minister and commissioner to pay up Rs 3 crore, allegedly misappropriated by them.

“The charge against me and commissioner are baseless. This is an attempt to tarnish the image of the minister and official,” Erabot Singh told reporters.

He, however, admitted that complaints of missing rice came to him occasionally.

“I deputed two storekeepers after the stock at godowns and the stock registrar did not match last year,” he said.

Erabot Singh said the food and civil supplies director, Norbert Dishinang, is conducting an inquiry to see any rice was missing from any of the districts.

The director began the probe on February 5 and has been asked to submit the report by March 31.