ED to Question AP Farmers on Rs 1,000-Crore Sheep Scam

Hyderabad: Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials are likely to question farmers from Andhra Pradesh to record their statements in connection with an alleged Rs 1,000 crore fund diversion under the Sheep Rearing Development Scheme (SRDS) during the BRS government’s tenure.

As many as five farmers, who sold sheep units to the key accused Mohammed Moinuddin with the involvement of officials from the then animal husbandry department, are expected to appear before ED officers at the Basheerbagh office on September 15.

The ED will record the statements of these farmers to gather details of the irregularities that took place at the ground level in the purchase of sheep units, and to ascertain how they were denied payments.

The ED has begun verifying data recovered from one of the accused in the SRDS scam, which revealed payments made to fictitious vendors and evidence of recycling sheep units — ostensibly to fraudulently claim disbursements from government funds without actual supply.

Sources said that some transactions point to illegal payments in the form of kickbacks to government officials and others. Additionally, documents pertaining to numerous bank accounts — including blank cheque books, passbooks, and debit cards — were linked to over 200 suspected dummy or mule accounts associated with an illegal online betting application. Based on this evidence, the agency has intensified its probe to establish links between transactions of betting apps and the accused in the sheep scam.

Suspecting a Rs 1,000 crore fraud in the scheme, the ED has started collecting data on SRDS implementation across all 33 districts during the previous government’s tenure. Statements will also be recorded from farmers who have not yet received payments for selling their sheep.

G. Kalyan Kumar, OSD to the then animal husbandry minister Talasani Srinivasa Yadav, as well as several beneficiaries and middlemen, including the key accused Moinuddin, were identified during the ED investigation. The probe was initiated on the basis of FIRs registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Hyderabad.

In one FIR, it was alleged that after the formation of the new Congress government in the state in 2023, the OSD to Talasani Srinivasa Yadav removed some records from the department office by breaking in. Another FIR was filed by a sheep merchant alleging that Rs 2.1 crore, due for supplying sheep units, was siphoned off by a departmental assistant.