BHUBANESWAR: The proprietor of a Sambalpur-based agro-tech firm was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch for allegedly misappropriating State government agriculture subsidy to the tune of Rs 6 crore. The accused Lenin Choudhury, proprietor of Khusi Agrotech and an authorised dealer of Bengaluru-based Varushapriya Agrotech, was arrested from Govindpur of Sambalpur district on Thursday.
Varushapriya Agrotech has its branch office at Baramunda here and it deals with the supply of paddy transplanters to the farmers across the country. The company also supplies transplanters to the Odisha government which are provided to farmers at a subsidised rate under various agriculture schemes. Khusi Agrotech had got dealership of Varushapriya Agrotech and Choudhury used to procure paddy transplanters from the Bengaluru-based firm.
Earlier this month, the prime accused of the scam Srinath Rana, the regional manager of Varushapriya Agrotech between 2017 and 2021, was arrested by EOW for fraudulently using company’s login ID and misappropriating the subsidy amount extended by the government.Rana was authorised to register the sale of machinery in Odisha and to facilitate subsidies to the beneficiaries/farmers by accessing the Odisha government’s Agriculture department website- www.agrisnetodisha.ori.nic.in - by using the login ID and password meant exclusively for Varushapriya Agrotech.
EOW found out that Rana in criminal conspiracy with Choudhury and some others had uploaded names and photos of 500 farmers of 18 districts to show the issuance/ supply of transplanters in the last four years. Fake engine and chassis numbers of the transplanters were used. However, no paddy transplanter was actually purchased and the entire subsidy amount was siphoned off by the accused.
Choudhury had provided names of 131 farmers of Sambalpur and Jharsuguda districts to Rana. Against the Rs 6 crore subsidy issued by the State government towards the fake purchases of 500 transplanters, Rs 1.32 crore was released against 131 transplanters that Choudhry claimed to have supplied to the farmers in the two Western Odisha districts.
EOW officers informed that once the subsidy was credited to accounts of farmers, Rana and Choudhury used to lure the beneficiaries by giving them money between Rs 5,000 and Rs 40,000. They were then obtaining the remaining subsidy amount from the farmers.The cost of each paddy transplanter ranges from Rs 2.33 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, and against each machine the government was releasing subsidy amount between Rs 93,320 and Rs 1.5 lakh.