Hyderabad: Ten persons were arrested on Thursday in connection with selling spurious seeds to farmers in a joint operation by the special task force of Cyberabad and the Rajendranagar along with Agriculture officials. Total material worth Rs 95 lakhs was recovered from the accused.
The police seized counterfeit seeds with an estimated value of Rs 75 lakh alongside 2.53 tons of spare seeds, 2900 packets of Pranathi cotton seeds, 9765 packets of fake seeds and five mobile phones.
Medchal case:
In the first case, the arrested persons were identified as Abdul Razzak, 59, from Bhainsa in Nirmal, Mundru Mallikarjuna, 30, from Sarangapur village in Mandamarii, Maidam Srinivas, 40, from Tandur in Mancherial, Potlapally Harish, 26, from Achalapur village in Tandur, Abdul Rafi, 35, from Korutla in Jagityal district.
According to the Cyberabad police, the main accused Abdul Razzak was working in the cotton seed industry. He procured the banned cotton seeds (BG3/HT) from Kamlesh Patel of Gujarat and brought the material to Hyderabad with the help of Srinivas, Harish, Ilaiah and Mallikarjun.
The accused dumped the seeds in a room close to the Medchal railway station. They had packed a total of 2.53 tons of seeds in packets and were selling them to farmers of Telangana.
Acting on a tip-off, police along with agriculture officials raided the premises and recovered and seized 2.53 tons of the banned cotton seeds.
Police registered a case and booked the accused under Sections 188 (Knowingly disobeying the order), and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), section 19 of the Seeds Act (to provide for regulating the quality of certain seeds for sale) and section 15 (Penalty for contravention of the provisions of the Act and the rules, orders and directions) of the Environmental Protection (EP) Act.
Rajendarnagar case:
The accused were identified as Kotha Turkha, 43, (seeds Supplier), Vubbani Raju, 38, (Pouches Supplier), Tipparaboina Venkatesh, 53, (Pouches Supplier), Somgani Venu Kumar, 42, (Pouches Supplier), Kavali Mallaiah, 42.
According to the police press release, Kotha Turkha was working as a cotton seed organiser for Gouthami Seeds of Kurnool Andhra Pradesh. He used to collect foundation seeds from the seed companies and sold them to the farmers for production.
“In 2023, he had given five tons of seeds to Gouthami Seeds Company out of which 800 kg of seed failed in the germination test and was contaminated with BT-III/HT cotton and the same was returned to him,” the police said.
“He knew about the demand for BG-III/HT cotton seeds in the market, so he wanted to sell the same for his personal monetary benefit,” the police added.
After receiving information police raided the premises where the seeds were stored and recovered the materials.
800 kgs of spurious BG-III/HT cotton seeds, 88 packets of spurious BG-III/HT cotton seeds packets (Pallavi Seeds), five mobile phones and 14850 empty pouches were recovered.
The police filed a case and booked the accused under section 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 19 (prevents a seed inspector from exercising any other power conferred on him) of the Seeds Act.
The commissioner of Cyberabad police appealed to farmers to beware of such fraudsters and inform the police by dialling 100 or by WhatsApp at 9490617444 if anyone is found selling spurious seeds.
Appeal to farmers
- Do not purchase loose seeds from anyone.
- Do not purchase the seeds from unauthorized dealers/agents.
- Please purchase the seeds from branded companies.
- Do not cultivate the BG III/HT cotton, which is causing damage to the environment.
- Do not use Glyphosate Herbicide.
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