Bhawanipatna (Kalahandi): The chairman of Golamunda block in Kalahandi district was arrested for allegedly siphoning off crop insurance money amounting to lakhs of rupees by forging land documents of farmers.
The accused, Bindu Mahanand was arrested and forwarded to court by K gaan police following a complaint by farmers.
He used to do crop insurance by using land records of farmers without their knowledge. After the matter came to the fore, farmers lodged a complaint with police following which police registered a case and launched investigation.
After finding evidence regarding Bindu Mahanand’s involvement, police arrested him.
The amount of money scammed is yet to be cleared as the investigation is underway, Dharmagarh DSP Dhiraj Chopdar said.
“Earlier, one Balkrishna Patel had been arrested in this connection. Bindu Mahananda was involved in the racket. It was found that they siphoned off around Rs 25 lakh crop insurance money by forging land documents of farmers. Others’ involvement in the racket is being investigated,” he added.
Revealing the modus operandi, police said they used to obtain bank accounts, passbooks, Debit Card, Aadhar card from villagers by giving them some money. They also obtain ROR/land documents through mobile application/ Bhulekha and link the account number to Adhaar of the fake beneficiary with the obtained land record and apply for PMFBY crop Insurance, police said.
On acceptance of the claim, the deposited money is withdrawn from the villager’s account using their account, police informed.
