AEO Among 20 Arrested in Rs.2.1 Cr Parkal Paddy Scam
During the investigation, police froze Rs.54 lakh across multiple accounts and seized ₹9.5 lakh in cash, a car, and land documents worth Rs.32 lakh totalling recoveries of around Rs.1.07 crore.
Warangal: Police have uncovered a major fraud involving government paddy procurement funds, causing a loss of about Rs.2.10 crore, and arrested 20 people including 10 women and an agriculture extension officer (AEO) in Hanamkonda on Tuesday.
Parkal division assistant commissioner of police C. Satish Babu said the main accused, Bejjanki Srinivas, colluded with AEO M. Supriya, Banda Lalitha and Vankdothu Charan Singh to orchestrate the scam during the Rabi season.
The trio had fixed their commissions in advance, with Lalitha and Charan Singh receiving Rs.120 per quintal, while Srinivas earned a substantial Rs.500 bonus and R.s50 milling charge per quintal.
To execute the fraud, Srinivas listed 12 family members and relatives as fake farmers and submitted records claiming paddy cultivation over 278 acres of government podu land in Shayampet mandal on which no crop was grown. Fake token books were generated, and login credentials of the Mandal Agriculture Extension Officer and Agriculture Officer were misused to upload the false entries into the government system.
As a result, Rs.1.86 crore was transferred into the bank accounts of the 12 fake farmers, while another Rs.24 lakh went to the accounts of Banda Lalitha, Charan Singh and Banda Rajinikar Reddy, based on a total fraudulent procurement of 9,100 quintals.
Srinivas subsequently withdrew Rs.1.32 crore and used ₹1.06 crore to purchase physical paddy to cover stock shortages from both the current and previous seasons.
During the investigation, police froze Rs.54 lakh across multiple accounts and seized ₹9.5 lakh in cash, a car, and land documents worth Rs.32 lakh totalling recoveries of around Rs.1.07 crore.
