Hyderabad: Spurious cotton seed racket busted

Hyderabad: Telangana vigilance and enforcement team busted interstate spurious cotton seed racket on Wednesday and seized Rs 35 lakh worth spurious cotton seeds. Reportedly the spurious cotton seeds were being  transported from Kurnool to Guntur via Siddipet.   The vigilance team arrested seven members.

Acting on a tip, the vigilance team raided a house in Madharam village of Wargal mandal, Siddipet district and nabbed Sk. Khader a seed dealer, who was in possession of 345 kg spurious cotton seeds

When questioned he confessed that he was selling the spurious cotton seed to the farmers by employing another 5 members from the same village as agents. He brought the spurious seeds from a person named Allapati Srinivasa Rao from Guntur district.

He said he paid Rs 1,600 per kg to Rao for the spurious seeds. After transporting it to Hyderabad he used to pack the seeds, under the brand names Pallavi and Gokul Krisna and release it into the markets. He used to charge Rs 1,050 for 450 grams a packet.