Nagpur: 150 farmers cheated of Rs 113 crore in loan fraud orchestrated by rice mill owner

In three tehsils of Maharashtra's Nagpur district, more than 150 farmers are said to have been defrauded of Rs 113 crore through loan fraud. Following a rainy drought in the area in 2017, the main defendant is a rice mill owner from Mauda who attracted 151 farmers with promises of financial assistance, Police said.

He and his associates got bank accounts opened in the name of these 151 farmers from Mauda, Parseoni and Ramtek tehsils after getting them to give their PAN and Aadhaar details, he said. Loans ranging from Rs 45 lakh to Rs 50 lakh were obtained in their names from a bank in Kingsway in Sadar and then these were siphoned off into accounts of 12 firms owned by main accused Ramannnarao Bolla, the official added.

The fraud came to light when several of these farmers, who had no idea about these loans, recently got recovery notices from the bank, after which they confronted the main accused, he said. While Bolla promised to return the money, he did not keep his promise after which they approached police. Six of these farmers did not even own agricultural land, he said.