Block Chairman Arrested in Kalahandi Dist for Misappropriating Crop Insurance Money of Farmers

Bhawanipatna: Bindu Mahanand, the chairman of Golamunda block in Kalahandi district was arrested for allegedly misappropriating crop insurance money by forging land documents of farmers.

He was arrested following complaints lodged by some farmers. It was alleged that Bindu Mahanand was using land records of farmers without their knowledge to misappropriate crop insurance money.

The amount of money misappropriated by him is yet to be ascertained. But primary investigation shows it may be worth more than Rs 25 lakh.

Earlier, one Balkrishna Patel had been arrested in this case. The involvement of others in this racket is being investigated. Mahanand used to obtain bank accounts, passbooks, Debit Card, Aadhar card from farmers by giving them small amounts. Then he was fraudulently applying for PMFBY crop Insurance in the name of farmers. On acceptance of the claim, he was withdrawing the money from farmers’ accounts as he used to have their bank passbooks also.