UP officials fudge records, create 527 fake farmers to earn over Rs 2 cr, booked

Bareilly: In an embarrassing incident, four government officials were charged for misappropriating funds and fudging records in Uttar Pradesh.

The officials of the Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Federation in an effort to make money, joined hands with two middlemen, bought lentils at a price lower than the minimum support price (MSP) and fudged the records.

However, their plan to make easy money failed after the chief development officer (CDO) asked officials to go through the sale documents before releasing the payment of over Rs 2 crore, according to a report in NDTV.

A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against the officials and the middlemen.

"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," Bareilly chief development officer Satyendra Singh was quoted as saying by NDTV.

The federation was supposed to buy lentils from farmers at MSP. However, the officials bought the lentils from a local market and reportedly purchased about 12,000 quintals of urad dal at Rs 3,600 per quintal. The MSP for lentils was fixed at Rs 5,400 per quintal by the state government.

Following this, they allegedly entered 527 fake farmers in the record for the approval of the bill. They also pulled up a list of account numbers, forged signatures and submitted the record.