3 Arrested As EOW Busts Agro-Equipment Subsidy Fraud In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Friday busted an agro-equipment subsidy fraud case and arrested three persons from Bhubaneswar, Daspalla in Nayagarh, and Berhampur.

The accused have been identified as the Managing Director of Annapurna Agro International company Pradeep Kumar Acharya, the proprietor of Dash Traders and Agro Agency Prabha Ranjan Dash, and the proprietor of Shaik Fayaz Shaik Fayaz.

According to an EOW release, a complaint/inquiry report was submitted by EOW Deputy Superintendent of Police AK Mishra.

During an investigation, the three accused persons were found to have misappropriated government subsidy to the tune of Rs 12 crore meant for the farmers/beneficiaries by forging documents.

“The accused fraudulently showed to have sold/supplied more number of agro equipment than they actually supplied. In many cases, they have managed to avail the subsidy amount using the fake/false UTRs without supplying any equipment” an EOW official said.

Besides, the accused used to pocket major subsidy amounts by cheating the beneficiaries.

After the irregularities were found, the Department of Agriculture blocked the manufacturing accused company Annapurna Agro International in its Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) portal.

A case was registered by the EOW in November following which the trio was booked under Sections 420/467/468/471/120-B of the IPC and Sections 66 of the IT Act, 2000.

During the investigation, many incriminating documents were also seized. Further investigation is underway.