LYNCHBURG, Va. (WFXR) – On January 14, the US Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Virginia announced a grocery store owner in Lynchburg was arrested for allegedly defrauding the federal SNAP program of more than $100,000 over five years.
According to the US Attorney, the owner of the Taste of India, 59-year-old Rajan Babbar of Lynchburg is charged with food stamp and wire fraud. He was arrested on Tuesday without incident.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was created to assist low and middle-income families with hunger and malnutrition by increasing their ability to purchase food.
Court documents show that in 2016, Babbar filed to have the Taste of India become a SNAP retailer. Around September 2018, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) noticed that Taste of India allegedly had unusual activity regarding food stamp redemptions, which resulted in the grocery store being placed on a “watch list” for further monitoring.
During four separate incidents between March 2019 and February 2020, undercover FNS investigators allegedly made unauthorized purchases of ineligible items using SNAP EBT cards, the US Attorney said.
Babbar was fined a $1,932 civil penalty and was allowed to continue operating as a SNAP retailer.
According to the criminal complaint filed on Tuesday, January 14, USDA-OIG agents allegedly discovered unusually high food stamp redemptions for a grocery store of that type and location.
“The dollar amount of SNAP redemptions skyrocketed at Taste of India during a relatively short span. In January 2018, the store completed around $2,500 in monthly SNAP transactions; that figure was more than $30,000 by May 2021. By February 2023, Taste of India was redeeming more than $104,000 in SNAP funds. Throughout this period, Taste of India remained at the same location and in the same sized building.”
The US Attorney said law enforcement including the USDA-OIG, the FBI, and the Lynchburg Police Department, then conducted undercover operations at Taste of India during the spring of 2023. Between April and September 2023, an undercover source entered the Taste of India and another store then operated by Babbar on three separate occasions and allegedly exchanged SNAP benefits for cash without purchasing any merchandise.