UP officials arrested for alleged misappropriation of government funds and creating fake farmers

Bareilly: In an attempt to misappropriate the government funds, the officials of the Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Federation colluded with two middle men and bought lentils at a price lower than the minimum support price (MSP).

The authorities caught the officials and FIR was filed against them.

According to the news reported in Deccan Chronicle which quoted the NDTV that their plan to make money was foiled after the chief development officer (CDO) asked officials to go through the sale documents before releasing the payment of over Rs 2 crore

Satyendra Singh, the chief development officer of Bareilly, said that “When we carried out an inquiry, we found that none of these farmers existed. We have suspended the district manager of the local cooperative federation and will take necessary action against everybody involved in the fraud.”

The officials of the federation which was responsible to buy from the farmers at MSP had bought the lentils from the farmers at Rs 3,600 per quintal while the MSP was fixed at Rs 5,400 per quintal by the state government.

Also, to make the bill approved, the accused officials allegedly entered 527 fake farmers in the record and also pulled up a list of account numbers, forged signatures and submitted the record.