HYDERABAD: An Agricultural Extension Officer (AEO) working in Kondurg was found to have embezzled Rs 2 crore of government funds meant for the Rythu Bima and Rythu Bandhu schemes.
The illicit activities of the accused, 41-year-old Goreti Srisailam, came to light recently when an LIC officer, responsible for approving Rythu Bima claims, detected multiple claims credited to specific accounts. Following this discovery, the Rangareddy District Agriculture Officer (DAO) filed a complaint on Saturday. Based on the complaint, a case was registered, leading to the prima facie arrest of Srisailam and his cab driver by the Cyberabad police for financial fraud by submitting counterfeit documents.
According to the police, Srisailam made 20 false claims for insurance money under the Rythu Bima scheme, which came out to Rs 1 crore, and misappropriated and diverted Rs 1 crore allocated under the Rythu Bandu scheme by submitting falsified documents for 130 non-existent pattadars and ineligible claimants.
Under the Rythu Bima scheme, an insurance amount of Rs 5 lakh is paid to the designated nominee on the death of the enrolled landowner or farmer. To initiate the insurance claim, the name of the farmer, which is written in Telugu on the Dharani portal, needs to be shared in English with LIC. It was Srisailam’s responsibility to make these changes, said sources. In the complaint, the DAO alleged, “Instead of enrolling the land owner/pattadar, as per scheme guidelines, another farmer’s name was mentioned in English.”
The police revealed that Srisailam fabricated entries for the scheme using fictitious names and Aadhaar Card numbers. After the enrolment process, he allegedly applied for the claim amount by submitting forged death certificates. He is then said to have tampered with the nominee account holder’s name on the copy of the bank passbook to divert the funds into his accounts. Through this, Srisailam obtained insurance payouts meant for 20 persons, amounting to Rs 1 crore under the Rythu Bima scheme alone.
Land bought under wife’s name: DCP
Regarding the Rythu Bandu scheme, which offers Rs 5,000 per acre per season to pattadars, Srisailam exploited data of ineligible persons — non-residents and non-claimants of the scheme — to acquire an additional `1 crore.
The DAO’s letter, obtained by TNIE, disclosed that a single bank account was utilised as the beneficiary’s account in 18 separate applications.
DCP K Prasad of the Cyberabad Economic Offences Wing said the embezzled funds were utilised by Srisailam to purchase agricultural land totalling 2.35 guntas in Kondurg village, 8.20 guntas in Thummalapally village and an open plot spanning 183 square yards in Kadthal village. “All the properties were registered under his wife’s name. Since his brothers own lands, he wanted to become a landowner himself,” he added.
While ongoing investigations are in progress, Cyberabad Commissioner of Police Avinash Mohanty suggested that other agencies, including the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Directorate of Enforcement, may soon become involved in subsequent proceedings.
20 claims for insurance money under the Rythu Bima scheme was falsely initiated by the AEO