Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh): Thugs posing as businessmen bought paddy worth lakhs from farmers and then ran away without paying in Gwalior. The police have registered a case. Dozens of victim farmers have reached the police and the fraud of about Rs 25 lakh has been detected.
The matter has come to light from Bhitarwar area of the district. There is a lot of paddy crop in this area and traders come here for direct purchase. This time also some traders reached the farmers in vehicles but the farmers could not understand that they were disguised as traders.
Anil Batham, a farmer who is a victim of fraud, said that some traders came to his area in vehicles to buy paddy. They described themself as a businessman from Jhansi and Datia. After weighing the paddy, they loaded it in trucks and sent the goods and went away saying that they would come after 15 days for payment, but did not return.
Another farmer, Arvind Singh Rana also said that some traders bought their crops in which 25 farmers sold their crops to the traders. The traders did not pay the money for the crop and ran away.
Till now 24 victimised farmers from Kithonda village alone have come forward from whom those fake traders bought paddy and ran away. The case of defrauding them of about Rs 23 lakh has come to light.
The victimised farmers complain that the police did not help them on time. The farmers said that the villagers had reached the police station at the same time and complained that the traders had bought their paddy and ran away with the entire money of their crop. The farmers also filed an application and complained to the Bhitarwar police station. They alleged that the police had earlier seized some of their vehicles and kept them in the police station, but after a few days, vehicles were released and they did not get any justice even from the police.
The police registered a criminal case of fraud and breach of trust against the five named accused.
Additional SP Niranjan Sharma said that in this case paddy worth Rs 23 lakh was purchased some time ago but payment was not made. On the application of the farmers, the police have registered a case at Bhitarwar police station and started investigation. All the accused are from Jhansi and Datia districts.
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