A major theft at a government-rented warehouse in Jetpur, located in Gujarat’s Rajkot district, has exposed alarming security lapses in the storage infrastructure used for agricultural commodities. During a routine inspection, officials discovered that over 1,200 sacks of groundnuts—valued at approximately ₹31.6 lakh—had gone missing.
The facility, operated under contract by the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), lacked even the most basic surveillance measures, including closed-circuit television cameras, and its on-ground security was outsourced to a third-party provider. Investigators believe that the absence of modern monitoring systems created a perfect opportunity for internal and external actors to coordinate the heist.
Authorities have so far detained four individuals in connection with the case, including a security guard posted at the site and a former contract employee who had knowledge of the warehouse’s operations and access protocols. The stolen groundnuts were stored as part of the state’s procurement system, intended for various public distribution and agricultural support schemes. Preliminary findings suggest that the theft may have been an inside job, carried out over several days to avoid drawing attention, with the stolen goods likely moved out in small consignments to escape detection. Law enforcement agencies are also probing whether the theft was part of a larger network involving the resale of stolen agricultural commodities in grey markets.
Industry experts note that such incidents highlight a chronic problem in India’s agri-warehousing sector, where manual record-keeping, outsourced security, and a lack of real-time inventory tracking leave assets vulnerable to pilferage. Calls are growing for urgent reforms, including the mandatory installation of CCTV cameras, biometric access systems, and digital inventory audits at all government-linked storage facilities. The Central Warehousing Corporation has stated that it will cooperate fully with the investigation and is reviewing its contractual arrangements with security providers. Farmers’ unions and political leaders have demanded that the state government not only recover the stolen produce but also compensate affected stakeholders to ensure that procurement operations and supply chain commitments remain intact.
This case, while significant in scale, is far from isolated—similar thefts have been reported in other districts, underscoring the pressing need for a nationwide review of warehouse security standards to protect valuable agricultural stockpiles.
