HYDERABAD: The Cyberabad special operations team (SOT) in an operation with agricultural department officials busted two rackets that had prepared banned and spurious cottonseed to sell to farmers at Medchal and Chevella on Friday, and seized 3.35 tonnes of seeds and incriminating material worth ₹95 lakhs from them.
The gangs procured the spurious seeds from Gujarat and Kurnool, repacked them in the name of reputed brands and were preparing to sell them in the market, said Cyberabad police commissioner M Stephen Raveendra.
In the first case, Abdul Razzak from Nirmal, a seed supplied, procured banned BG3/HT cotton seeds from Kamlesh Patel of Gujarat. The Medchal SOT seized 2.53 tonnes of seeds from him. Razzak was earlier involved in similar cases in Nirmal and Ramagundam.
In another case, Kotha Turkha Alisha, a farmer from Nandyal district, Andhra Pradesh, had collected seeds that had failed germination tests and was preparing to sell them to farmers and had rented a room near Kurnool for the purpose. On a tip-off, the Rajendranagar SOT nabbed him at Chevella.
In another case, Mallaiah a farmer from the Vikarabad district, was arrested for possession of banned seeds which he was planning to sell to farmers.
