Bolangir: Police arrested 14 people including CSP (Customer service point) owners and operators for allegedly misappropriating PMFBY (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana) funds in Bolangir district.
“The agriculture department lodged a complaint with a list of fraudulent transactions of PMFBY funds. Accordingly, we formed four separate teams and carried out raids at several CSPs in Bolangir and Kalahandi districts. After raids, 13 CSP owners in Bolangiri and two in Kalahandi have been apprehended. We are tracking others who are involved in the case,” SP Rishikesh Khilari informed at a press meet.
As many as 16 mobile phones, seven laptops, five printers, 11 CPUs, three monitors and four fingerprint scanners were seized, he added.
Of the 14 arrested accused, 13 are from Balangir district while one is from Kalahandi district. The arrested accused are Kuber Meher (28) of Bhalumunda under Bangamunda police station, Hiradhar Meher (42), Bidyadhar Meher (43), Samanth Majhi (25), Champaram Kumbhar (41) Balaram Behera (33), Praveen Sahu (22), Chodeshwar Behera (41) Kunal Jindal (24), Purendra Putel (43), Sunil Meher (29), Rahul Ranjan Deep (31). They all belong to Bolangir district while Duryodhan Bag (25) is a resident of Kalahandi District.
The CSP owners and operators used to do crop insurance using the land patta of farmers in a fraudulent manner. It is found that insurance is applied several times with one patta. They try to misappropriate crop insurance funds in this way, the SP said.
One of the probing teams has launched an investigation into the financial aspect of the case. “If anyone was found availing the funds illegally, we will attach the money,” the SP added.
