Chirala: Farmers duped by trader

Chirala: The farmers who are already in deep loss were cheated by a paddy trader from Swarnapalem village, who convinced them to pay full amount for their paddy crops. Later, he absconded with a stock of Rs 1.60 crore.

The farmers registered a complaint at Karamchedu police station on Friday. According to farmers, a man named Tirumalasetty Mahesh, who used to work as an agent for Reliance company visited them regularly. A few months ago, he started procuring paddy from the farmers. Learning about the trader the remaining farmers also handed over their produce, after sometime the trader started postponing the date for payments and switched off his mobile phone. The worried farmers inquired about Mahesh in his village and found that he was a fraud. The farmers are requesting the government for justice, as they lost all their money.