The Rajasthan Police’s chief has announced that the Special Operations Group(SOG) has launched a probe into the alleged farm loan waiver scam. Farmers had alleged that despite not taking any loans, their names appeared in the list of beneficiaries whose loans were waived off.
Some farmers of Dungarpur district in Rajasthan were the first to raise an alarm. They claimed that their names were in the list of beneficiaries even when they had not taken any loans. Soon, farmers from other districts such as Churu, Hanumangarh, Bharatpur, and Dholpur districts also approached the co-operative department officials. They also stated that their names were on the list of recipients of loan waivers even though they had never taken any loans.
Reportedly, the names of more than 1,700 farmers were found in the list of beneficiaries from Dungarpur district alone and none of the farmers had never availed a loan. The farmers in the state were palpably fearful of the fact this alleged scam of fake beneficiaries could be replicated under the guise of farm loan waivers across the state.
The officials of a co-operative bank in Sagwara, Dungarpur had then allegedly stated that as soon as they found out that Ashok Gehlot government ordered to write-off farms loans, they issued loans in the name of those people who had never availed a loan.
Sensing the scale of the alleged farm loan waiver scam, the Rajasthan co-operative department, which carried out the initial probe, asked Rajasthan police to take over the case. Rajasthan’s director general of police (DGP) Bhupendra Singh said that the special operations group has commenced the probe into the matter after they received a letter from the government a few days back. SOG will soon submit a report, he said.
According to the sources, more than one lakh accounts are under the scrutiny of the agency in which waived loan amount was transferred although they never took a loan. One official said, “Several farmers who never availed loans have filed complaints to the co-operative department that their names were in the list of the beneficiaries of farmers whose loans were waived. We are now gathering district-wise data of the number of accounts in which waived loan amount was transferred.”
Besides incongruencies in loan waiver, the SOG is also reviewing cases of cheating registered against 125 co-operative societies in the state. After the SOG obtained data across all police stations, the economic offences arm of the group found that 385 cases are registered against 125 credit co-operative societies of state. Sirohi (213), Pali (138) and Jalore (12) were the three districts where the maximum number of cases registered against these societies were found.
