Adilabad, Mancherial Police Intensify Checks Against Spurious Cotton Seeds
A few days ago, Adilabad police raided a godown in the town and seized 792 packets of spurious cotton seeds of “Pink Bond” valued at ₹9.5 lakh in the open market. They also confiscated expired cotton seeds and pesticides valued at ₹9 lakh.
Adilabad: Police in Adilabad and Mancherial districts have intensified surveillance against local traders over the supply of spurious cotton seeds procured from Andhra Pradesh and bordering Maharashtra.
It is the cotton sowing time in north Telangana districts. Agents of spurious cotton seeds have become active and are selling the seeds to gullible farmers for a lower price or in instalments.
Police booked, among others, a habitual offender Vusa Subbarao of Giddaluru in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh under the Preventive Detention (PD) Act for selling spurious seeds. Subbarao has since been shifted to the Charlapalli Jail in Hyderabad.
Ramagundam police commissioner Ambar Kishor Jha said Vasu Subbarao has been involved in selling of spurious cotton seeds from 2021 in Tandur, Bheeram, Bheemaram, Bellampalli-2 Town, Thallagurijala, Nennela, and Chennur mandals. Nine cases have been registered against him in Mancherial and Komaram Bheem Asifabad districts. Yet, the accused has not mended his ways and is continuing his illegal business. They have hence detained Subbarao under the PD Act.
A few days ago, Adilabad police raided a godown in the town and seized 792 packets of spurious cotton seeds of “Pink Bond” valued at ₹9.5 lakh in the open market. They also confiscated expired cotton seeds and pesticides valued at ₹9 lakh.
Following the raid, Adilabad Two Town police arrested nine persons, including Sandesh Bandewar, 35, of Yavatmal district in Maharashtra and one of the prime accused Papinwar Suneel Kumar, 56, proprietor of Nithiksha Agritech and Genius Crop Sciences located at Kothapeta in Hyderabad.
Adilabad SP Akhil Mahajan said Papinwar Suneel had earlier worked as a salesman for various seed companies. In the process, he developed good relations with seed and pesticide shop owners in the erstwhile Adilabad district. The SP said Papinwar has confessed that he buys spurious cotton seeds and pesticides from Girish Patel of Idar in Gujarat and sells them in Telangana.
Akhil Mahajan has appealed to farmers to purchase cotton seeds and pesticides only from authorised dealers and take bills for the material purchased. The buyers can then inform police and Agriculture officials if they come across any spurious cotton seeds and pesticides.