Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), has arrested another accused, Prahallad Meshua from Bheden, Bargarh, today in an Agro-Equipment Subsidy Fraud Case.
He will be produced before the Court in EOW PS Case No.11 dt.01.09.2021 u/s 409/420/468/471//120-B IPC, R/w Sec.66 (C) & 66 (D) of IT Act, 2000. Earlier, five accused persons including the main accused Srinath Rana were arrested in this case by EOW.
This case was filed by K.G. Sree Charan, Director of M/s Varushapriya Agrotech Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore. It was alleged that one Srinath Rana, Ex- Regional Manager of this company, misappropriated a subsidy amount of Rs.5 Crores. by fraudulently using the company’s login ID and password.
It has been ascertained during the investigation that M/s Varushapriya Agrotech Pvt. Ltd., a Bangalore-based company having its branch office at Baramunda, Bhubaneswar, was dealing with the business of supplying paddy trans-planters to the farmers across the country and also delivering services and supplies to Odisha Govt. under various subsidy schemes.
Accused Srinath Rana, who was earlier working as Regional Manager in the said company was authorized to register the sale of machinery in the State of Odisha and to facilitate subsidies to the beneficiaries/farmers by accessing the Govt. of Odisha (Agriculture Dept.) website www.agrisnetodisha.ori.nic.in by using the login id and password meant exclusively for M/s Varusapriya Agrotech Pvt. Ltd. company.
It is learnt that during the period from 2017-21, accused Srinath Rana without the knowledge of the firm, entered into a criminal conspiracy with the arrested accused Prahallad Meshua, proprietor of Subhalaxmi Traders, Bargarh, and other fraudsters and fraudulently uploaded the details of more than 556 paddy trans-planters with fake engine and chassis number of machinery (shown supplied/sold by their agencies) and names & photos of farmers/beneficiaries purportedly showing issue/supply of those trans-planters to the said farmers, in the DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) portal of Agriculture Dept. of Govt. of Odisha and managed to get the release of subsidy amount to the tune of about Rs.7.16 Cr. in favour of the farmers/beneficiaries by the Govt.
Soon after the release/credit of subsidy amounts in the accounts of beneficiary farmers, the accused persons used to lure the beneficiaries by giving them some token amount and grabbing the major subsidy amount. It has been learnt that the cost of the trans-planter ranges from Rs.2.33 to Rs.3 Lakh approx. and against each machinery, Govt. was releasing subsidy amounts ranging from Rs.93,320/- to Rs.1.50 Lakh.
It has been ascertained that out of the 556 paddy trans-planters, 54 transplanters were shown to have been sold/supplied by Prahallad Meshua, proprietor of Subhalaxmi Traders, who was the authorized dealer of M/s Varushapriya Agrotech Pvt. Ltd. and he in criminal conspiracy with main accused Srinath Rana had provided fake engine and chassis number of 54 trans-planters shown issued in favour of equal number of beneficiaries/farmers of Bargarh and Sonepur Districts. Against the supply of those specific 54 trans-planters, a subsidy amount to the tune of about Rs.58 Lakhs was released in favour of the farmers/beneficiaries by the Govt. Investigation of the case is continuing, the EOW said.
