Turkapally police bust interstate fake cotton seed racket, one arrested

Turkapally Police, along with Agriculture Department officials, busted an interstate spurious cotton seed racket and seized ₹10 lakh worth banned BG-II seeds. One person was arrested while another remains absconding. The accused allegedly misled farmers with false yield promises.

HYDERABAD: The Turkapally Police, in coordination with Agriculture Department officials, busted an interstate spurious cotton seed racket, arrested one person and seized banned BG-II cotton seeds worth around Rs 10 lakh.

The suspect, Dondapati Mallikarjuna Rao (36), of Kesanapalli village in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, was apprehended near the Turkapally bus stand while allegedly transporting fake BG-II cotton seeds from Guntur to Siddipet for illegal sale. Another suspect, Shankar of B Kothakota in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, is absconding.

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During the operation, officials seized five bags containing 70 kg of cotton seed packets branded as “BILLA BG-II 999” and 80 kg of loose spurious cotton seeds, with a total weight of 150 kg.

During interrogation, Mallikarjuna Rao reportedly admitted that he, along with the absconding accused, had procured and transported the seeds for sale to farmers by claiming that they would provide higher yields and better crop productivity, said Thurkapally Sub-Inspector Mohd Thakiuddin.

Police found that the suspects could not produce valid licences, transport permits, invoices, stock registers or authorisation documents for the seeds.

The police said the use of such prohibited and spurious cotton seeds could lead to poor germination, crop failure, financial losses for farmers and long-term damage to agricultural productivity.