Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) have arrested a fraudster for misappropriating government subsidy to the tune of Rs 3.49 Crores for selling farm equipment to 278 farmers in four districts of Odisha.
“The accused identified as Kamaljeet Singh of Bargarh was arrested on June 22 in connection with EOW PS Case No.7 dtd. 23.04.2021 U/s 419/420/406/467/468/471/ 20-B IPC r/w Sec 66 of IT Act. He was produced before the Court of SDJM, Bargarh, and remanded to judicial custody,” the EOW said.
As per EOW press note, Rigin Bennet, Manager, Public Relations of M/s Redlands Ashlyn Motors PLC, Thrissur, Kerala had registered a complaint alleging that accused Harpal Singh & others managed to obtain registration from Agriculture Department of Odisha Govt for selling farm equipment of M/s Redlands Ashlyn Motors PLC by submitting forged documents.
They fraudulently uploaded in the portal of Direct Benefit Transport (DBT) to have supplied 281 Rice Transplanter machines to farmers of Bolangir, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Bargarh districts and misappropriated Rs.3.5 Crores, which is subsidy amount of Odisha Govt, mentioning fake engine/chassis number of rice transplanter machines.
Investigation revealed that, during the year 2018-20, accused Harpal Singh, who is the dealer of the company, in criminal conspiracy with his brother Kamaljeet Singh and others had uploaded fake engine/chassis number alongwith photographs of beneficiaries & machines in DBT portal of Govt. of Odisha showing to have sold rice transplanter machines of M/s Redlands Ashlyn Motors PLC make to 278 farmers of Bolangir, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Subarnapur Districts without procuring the same from the company.
It is ascertained during investigation that, machines were never sold, only shown in papers to have sold. Harpal Singh had uploaded his joint photographs with beneficiaries and fake machines in DBT portals with view to deceit the Govt. The photographs were taken by Kamaljeet Singh. After the photographs were uploaded, subsidy amount ranging from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.1.5 lakh were credited to the account of 278 beneficiary farmers. The total subsidy amount comes to Rs.3.49 Crores. Soon after the subsidy amount were credited to the account of beneficiary farmers, Kamaljeet Singh and his brother Harpal Singh used to lure the beneficiary to withdraw the total subsidy amount. They took away total subsidy amount in cash from them and in lieu of that Rs.3,000 to 5,000 were paid to the farmers by the two accused persons and others, taking advantage of their illiteracy and innocence.
Also, during investigation, so far, an amount of Rs.1.92 Crores has already been freezed in different accounts of accused persons and their firms. The investigation of the case is continuing, the EOW said.
Comments are closed.