Agriculture staffer swindles loans worth Rs 50 lakh

Bhimavaram: A bank fraud to the tune of Rs 50 lakh involving an agriculture official came to light at Navuduru of Veeravasaram mandal in West Godavari district on Tuesday.

Agriculture group loans ranging from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh were taken on behalf of 15 fake teams. Pala Harshavardhan Siva Prasad, working as MPEO in agriculture department is suspected to be the key offender. 

He formed fake groups of farmers to draw loans from Andhra Bank Navuduru branch.

The issue came to light when farmers started receiving messages about loan repayment. 

When mandal agriculture officer K Rajasekhar probed the issue, it came to light that Harshavardhan forged the signature of agriculture official to obtain loans from the bank branch.

Following complaint by the AO, Rajasekhar, a case was registered by the police.

They started investigation. The district agriculture officer M Jagga Rao also began inquiry into the fraud.