The authorities have busted a racket entailing manufacture of spurious fertilizer and have sealed the premises used for the purpose.
Joint Director of Agriculture Mahanteshappa, with the assistance of the Saraswathipuram Police, zeroed in on a farm at Bogadi on the outskirts of the city and raided the unit late on Saturday.
The authorities discovered that property owner Venkatesh was based in Bengaluru and that he had rented it out to Mahesh of Mysuru.
But the latter had neither paid the rent for the past year and is unreachable.
The police broke open a godown on the premises and found a large stack of spurious fertilizer, weighing machines and bags.
Nearly 2,000 kilos of material resembling superphosphate was found besides salts, 400 old cement bags and they were being marketed under the name of Pragati Super Fertilizers. Mr. Mahanteshappa told The Hindu that in addition to Pragati Super, which does not exist, there were large stack of bags of a few brands that were no longer in existence.
“It was an 18-acre land on which there were many godowns engaged in the manufacture of various products and the property owner had rented out one of the sheds to Mahesh. We suspect it to be the same Mahesh whose property was raided sometime ago in Nanjangud but he had secured bail from the court,” said Mr. Mahanteshappa.
The authorities suspect that Mahesh was supplying spurious fertilizer to unsuspecting farmers in remote areas.
The official advised the farmers to ensure that they buy fertilizers and other agricultural products from reputed outlets and insist on bill. The Sarawasthipuram police have sealed the premises, registered a case and are investigating.
