New Delhi/Hyderabad, Aug 1 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has seized passbooks, debit cards and cheque books belonging to more than 200 ‘mule’ bank accounts following raids in a money laundering case linked to an alleged sheep rearing and distribution scam worth crores of rupees that allegedly took place in Telangana during the previous BRS regime.
These bank accounts, as per a statement issued by the central agency, are linked to an illegal betting app.
The agency claimed it also recovered materials that indicate “kickbacks” being paid to some government officials and others.
The probe stems from Telangana Police Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) FIRs of December 2023.
The ACB arrested four government officers in February 2024.
The Sheep Rearing Development Scheme (SRDS) was launched by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government in the southern state in April 2017 to provide a sustainable livelihood to shepherd families and boost their income.
Eight locations in the city related to beneficiaries and alleged middlemen involved in the scam, including the premises of G Kalyan, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to former BRS minister (animal husbandry and fisheries) Talasani Srinivasa Yadav, were raided on July 30 by the ED as part of the case booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
An ACB FIR alleged that after the formation of the new government in the state (2023), OSD Kalyan had removed some records from the department office by breaking-in the premises.
Another FIR was registered by a sheep merchant alleging that Rs 2.1 crore, which was due to be paid to them for supplying sheep units, was siphoned off by the departmental assistant directors, as per the ED.
The agency said its probe found that “substantial” funds were transferred to the bank accounts of several persons/entities in lieu of supply of sheep for beneficiaries under the SRDS.
Prior to the launch of the SRDS, these beneficiaries were not involved in the business of sale or supply of sheep and the recipients of these funds had never done sale or purchase of this category of livestock.
The probe found that government funds were “illegally diverted” to the bank accounts of bogus vendors.
According to the agency, a CAG Audit Report for the period ended March-2021 found several irregularities in the implementation of the SRDS scheme like non-maintenance of beneficiary wise details, improper record of invoices pertaining to transportation invoices and payments, payments against invoices containing fake/ passenger vehicles/ non-transport vehicle registration numbers, duplicate tags allotted to sheep units, sheep units allotted to dead/non-existent persons etc.
The CAG’s audit report is limited to only seven districts (out of 33 in Telangana) wherein an estimated loss to the government was pegged at Rs 253.93 crore.
“On a proportionate basis for all the 33 districts in the entire state of Telangana, the loss is likely to exceed Rs 1,000 crore,” the ED claimed.
The agency said its investigation also substantiated the findings of the CAG audit.
The documents related to numerous bank accounts, including blank cheque books, passbooks and debit cards associated with over 200 suspected dummy/mule accounts linked to an illegal online betting application, were recovered from one of the premises, it said.
A total of 31 used mobile phones and over 20 SIM cards were also seized, the agency said. PTI NES AS AS
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.