Seventh suspect in multi-crore crop relief scam arrested

The Economic Cell of Fatehabad Police arrested another suspect on Wednesday in a multi-crore crop compensation scam.

The accused, Chand Mohan, a resident of Badopal village, was caught with Rs 2.5 lakh cash. The police said the accused will be produced before the court soon. Six suspects have already been arrested in the case.

Inspector Sandeep Singh, in-charge of the Economic Cell, said the scam is linked to irregularities in distribution of crop compensation at Badopal village. The investigation revealed that a group of revenue officials, including village patwari, kanungo, naib tehsildar, tehsildar and their aides allegedly added fake names of farmers and diverted the compensation money into accounts of their acquaintances.

Records obtained from the Fatehabad Tehsil office and local banks confirmed that the state government had released Rs 4.25 crore for crop compensation at Badopal in 2022. Of this, Rs 3.51 crore was distributed and the remaining amount was returned. In the process, lakhs of rupees were siphoned off through fake accounts.

The main accused, patwari Rajendra Prasad, along with his associates, allegedly misused government funds by transferring compensation money into private accounts. Investigators found evidence of illegal transfers to several individuals, including Mahabir, Santro Devi, Chand Mohan, Ramniwas, Sher Singh, Bhateri, Suman, Jagroop, Sushil, Kamal and Rahul. A case has been registered at Fatehabad city police station on May 30. The police say the investigation continues to trace other suspects and recover the embezzled funds.