Bhubaneswar, Oct. 25: Civil supply officials today seized pulses weighing nearly 50 quintals from the house of a retired schoolteacher at Dumduma.

Tension prevailed in the area after local residents alleged that the pulses had been stocked for being sold in the black market.

Acting on a tip-off, Khandagiri police raided the house and subsequently handed over the matter to the civil supply officials, who seized 80 bags of arhar and 90 packets of masoor dal. An official said the pulses' market value would be more than Rs 5 lakh.

However, the house owner refuted the allegations of hoarding and claimed that his son had purchased the pulses for retailing. "My son, who is unemployed, wants to start his business. We have a valid invoice and the pulses were brought here yesterday. They are not meant for black marketing," said the retired schoolteacher, identified as Niranjan.

The official said they were verifying the source of purchase of the seized pulses. "We will ascertain the source of purchase and then action will be taken," he said.

The state food supplies and consumer welfare department continues its raids on various godowns to recover pulses' stocks over permissible limits. The permissible limit of pulses stock for godowns is 750 quintals. The department so far has seized around 88 tonnes of pulses after conducting raids at seven places. The state government had earlier directed the concerned district collectors to verify the stock of pulses in the godowns.

Cheat charge

Police today detained an office-bearer of a Nayagarh-based sugar factory for cheating a businessman of Rs 25 lakh. The man identified as Sabyasachi Mishra, 28.

The police said the sugar factory had been assigned the job of digging up deep bore wells in Khurda and Nayagarh districts under the state government's lift irrigation project. Later, it had sublet the work to a Bhawanipatna-based agency. However, the factory only paid Rs 25 lakh against the work, which was completed at the cost of more than Rs 50 lakh.