Agri Society Fraud: Punjab Vigilance Bureau Busts Scam Worth Rs 7 crore

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has busted a fraud worth Rs. 7 crores at the SBS Nagar-based Karnana Multipurpose Agricultural Service Society Limited. 

At the VB police station in Jalandhar, a case was filed against seven officers and staff, and five suspects have been taken into custody.

According to a vigilance bureau spokesperson, during an inquiry into the accounts of the society, it revealed that a scam worth Rs. 7.14 crore has been committed in connivance with officers/employees of the cooperative society. 

He said that the organization, which has been operating an Indian Oil gas station in addition to other things, had roughly 1000 account holders or members. Additionally, it offers farmers insecticides and fertilizers for sale.

“NRIs of village Karnana and inhabitants of Karnana village obtained FDRs worth crores of rupees in the name of above society. Secretary Inderjit Dhir, who was also the cashier earlier, embezzled crores of rupees by setting limits, etc. on the said FDRs in collusion with president Randhir Singh and present cashier Harpreet Singh,” the spokesperson said.

According to the spokesperson, it was discovered during the investigation that Dhir had installed two computers in the society, one of which was used to show the records to the members in order to reassure them regarding the entries of their deposits, while the other was used to feed the actual data in order to obtain verification from the audit team and other officials.

Dhir, Harpreet, Randhir, vice president Sukhwinder Singh, committee members Ravinder Singh, Mahinder Lal, and Kamaljit Singh are among those named by the vigilance department as suspects. In this scenario, more research is now being conducted.