Send complaints to police stations: SOG

THE ALLEGED SCAM UNRAVELED IN JAN IN DUNGARPUR AFTER MANY FARMERS WHO DID NOT TAKE LOANS FOUND THEIR NAMES IN LIST OF BENEFICIARIES WHOSE LOANS WERE WAIVED OFF

JAIPUR: In an alleged farm loan waiver scheme which had surfaced in January this year, the special operations group (SOG) of Rajasthan police has written to the cooperative department to get the complaints investigated at respective police stations where the FIRS have been registered. The SOG will provide the police all the technical support and guidance required, officials said.

In July, the SOG had started an investigation into an alleged loan scam across co-operative banks in various districts of the state.

Deputy inspector general of police (DIGP) Nitin Deep Blaggan, SOG, said, “We have asked the department to get the complaints investigated at the respective police stations where the complaints have been registered. The reason behind transferring the investigation was that the period of cases which had surfaced from districts was different that’s why we have asked the district police to investigate the case.”

Another senior police official of SOG said, “There was no uniformity in timings and it didn’t appear to be an organised one. As SOG is an institution which deals with organised crime, it was not possible to investigate the complaint from every pocket. However, we will help the local police in analysing the audit reports and balance sheets.”

The alleged scam unraveled in January in Dungarpur after many farmers who did not take loans found their names in the list of beneficiaries whose loans were waived off. Only in Gowadi village of the district, around 1780 farmers have been shown as recipients of ~8 crore of loan amount. The villagers had demanded detailed investigation.

Further, farmers from several villages in Churu, Hanumangarh, Bharatpur and Dholpur districts also approached the co-operative department authorities with complaints about their names appearing on the list of beneficiaries of loan waivers even though they never took loans.

There is no clarity on the total amount of money involved in the alleged scam but a co-operative department official said that in Dungarpur alone the amount involved was about ~8 crore.

The Rajasthan government’s co-operative department which carried out an initial probe had written a letter to SOG in mid of June to investigate the case.

Around 1,00,000 accounts are under the scanner of the police and co-agency in which waived loan amount was transferred.