Four Held As Fake Cotton Seeds Seized in Bela

Adilabad: Bela police on Saturday seized 150 packets of suspected fake cotton seeds, Rs 60,000 in cash and a motorcycle, and registered cases against four persons allegedly involved in the illegal seed trade.

Adilabad DSP Jeevan Reddy said police received information that some persons were selling spurious cotton seeds to farmers on the outskirts of Sangdi village. Acting on the tip-off, police rushed to the spot, detained four persons and seized the seed packets.

Police informed agriculture officials, who examined the stock and reportedly found the seeds to be suspicious.

Investigators said Jittwar Kishore Reddy, a commission agent linked to Naresh Crop Science of Gujarat, along with another employee, Dharmesh Kachadiya, was allegedly selling fake cotton seeds under the brand name MAULI-5 in place of the original MAULI-555.

Police said the accused had brought 4,500 packets from Gujarat. Of these, 4,000 packets were allegedly supplied to Rakthawar Pawan of Maharashtra, while 350 packets were sold to Navagare Kunal, Kuldeep Takre and others for sale to farmers.

Cases were registered under relevant sections of the BNS and Section 7 of the Seeds Act, 1966. Adilabad Rural SI K. Phanindhar and SI Madhu Krishna were present.

Adilabad police trace 74 mule accounts in Rs 7.1 crore fraud

Adilabad police have detected 74 mule bank accounts allegedly used for online betting, gaming and cyber fraud involving Rs 7.1 crore in the district. Twelve cases were registered at different police stations.

The operation, named “Operation Crackdown 1.0”, led to the arrest of four accused who were remanded to judicial custody. They were identified as Sherla Rajavardhan, Petlasri Akshay, Rajender and Shek Sameer.

Addressing the media on Saturday, Superintendent of Police Akhil Mahajan said the identified mule accounts were linked to complaints received through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP).

He warned that allowing relatives or friends to use personal bank accounts and ATM cards for such transactions was illegal and action would be taken against those involved.

The SP said police were closely monitoring suspicious bank transactions, online betting and cyber fraud.

Other accused allegedly linked to online fraud, gaming apps, fake trading and betting platforms were identified as Awase Khan, Madavi Ghanshyam, Jadhav Santhosh, Suram Ashamma, Jakkula Pravin, Suram Vishweshwar, Rathod Manoj, Aryan Goud and Jadhav Govardhan.

Adilabad DSP L. Jeevan Reddy, Cyber Crime SI Gopi Krishna and other officials were present.