A group of over 400 cotton growers from Seloo village in Wardha district of Maharashtra have threatened to commit “self-immolation” in front of the RSS headquarters here on Sunday to protest alleged non-payment of dues to the tune of Rs 8 crore by a buyer, who they claimed is close to the saffron outfit.
The farmers claimed that they had sold 20,000 quintals of cotton to Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Wardha, which in turn sold it to one Sunil Prabhakar Talatule, who owns Shrikrishna Ginning and Pressing Factory.
His father Babasaheb Talatule was among the founding fathers of the RSS, the protesters said.
“We had sold our produce between November 2014 and May 2015, but Mr Talatule is not making payment against purchase,” said Ram Narain Pathak, one of the farmers leading the group.
He said they had approached Maharashtra finance minister Sudhir Mungattiwar and Union transport and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari to draw their attention to the issue, but nothing had happened.
The farmers also filed a police complaint on July 25, 2015, and an offence under IPC Section 420 (cheating) was registered against APMC secretary, I. Sufi, APMC administrator Prashant Talmale and the purchaser Sunil Talatule, who were subsequently arrested by the police, the Seloo police confirmed.
