Hyderabad: M.V. Shiva Reddy, owner of Nandini Agri Biotech Private Limited, who was arrested for selling spurious seeds, was detained under the PD Act on Friday.
The police said that he had the licence to deal with all types of seeds and had a unit in Attapur under the Rajendranagar police station limit. As per the norms, he had to destroy the expired stock. But he repackaged and sold it to farmers. The accused also rented a godown in Hayathnagar.
Based on a tip off, the police raided his godown and recovered spurious seeds worth over Rs 27 lakh. He sold the spurious seeds through his agents, causing huge loss to farmers.
After analysing the stocks, the agricultural department said that the cotton seed does not comply with the prescribed minimum seed standard germination of 75 per cent. At present, it is not permitted to cultivate herbicide tolerant cotton in India.
Mahesh Bhagwat, Rachakonda police commissioner, issued an order to detain him under the PD Act. Two cases are registered against Shiva Reddy. He was shifted to the Chanchalguda central prison.
