Bolangir: Bolangir police busted a major online fraud racket as it arrested as many as 14 employees of Sahaj Jan Seva Kendras on charge of planning to embezzle insurance claims worth over Rs 10 crore under the Centre-sponsored Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) by manipulating the land pattas and land records of thousands of farmers, a police official said Monday.
The arrested accused were identified as Kuber Meher, 28, Hiradhar Meher, 42, Bidyadhar Meher, 43, of Bhalumunda village, Samant Majhi, 25, of Dumerpada village, Champaram Kumbhar, 41, of Sanagamada village under Bangomunda police limits, Balaram Behera, 33, of Kandakhal village, Pravin Sahu, 22, of Patrapali village under Muribahal police limits, Chudeshwar Behera, 41, Sisir Bhue, 32, of Sriram village under Sindhekela police limits, Kunal Jindal, 24, of Kantabanji, Purender Putel, 43, of Saintala police limits, Sunral Meher, 29, of Meherpada in Patnagarh, Rahul Ranjan Deep, 31, of Badimunda village under Bolangir Sadar police limits and Durjyodhan Bag, 25, of Kuhura village under Kegaon police limits in Kalahandi district. Seven laptops, 11 numbers of computer CPUs, five printers, three monitors, four finger print scanners and 16 mobile phones were seized from the possession of the accused. This was stated here by Bolangir Superintendent of Police (SP) Rishikesh Dnyandeo Khilari at a presser held at the ODRAF building near the Reserve Police Ground in Bolangir, Monday. The district police managed to crack the case due to timely complaint lodged by the district agriculture department, the SP said.
According to the police, the district agriculture department somehow came to know that crop insurance worth crores was done in the name of fake farmers while using the documents of thousands of farmers in Bolangir district. The agriculture department lodged a written complaint with the Bolangir Cyber Police Station after it suspected that plans were afoot to defraud crores by manipulating the land pattas and land records of farmers in the district. The suspicion arose after it detected that the number of farmers and farmlands had been inflated in the district and found numerous insurance claims under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The inflated figures stunned the officials in the agriculture department and the concerned insurance firm.
Taking the complaint seriously, the Cyber Police registered a case and four teams comprising officers of Cyber Police and district police conducted raids at different locations and apprehended 14 persons for their alleged involvement in the crime.
During the investigation, the police teams found that the land pattas and land records had been manipulated at 13 Sahaj Jan Seva Kendras in Bolangir district and one centre in Kalahandi district.
During the probe they found that the land pattas, Aadhaar cards, copies of bank passbooks and mobile phone numbers of farmers had been manipulated by the proprietors of the Sahaj Jan Seva Kendras and their employees. They uploaded the available data without the knowledge of the farmers and mentioned various people as sharecroppers. They even submitted necessary premiums towards the PMFBY as per the guideline of crop insurance. “We will soon nab others involved in this case,” said the SP adding that the district administration has been asked to close the Common Service Centres (CSCs) involved in the crime.