PM-Kisan scam: ₹1.43 cr. recovered from 3,667 accounts in Krishnagiri

The investigation into the PM-Kisan scheme scam continued as authorities recovered ₹1,43,67,000 from 3,667 accounts here.

The administration said, a total of 8,408 ineligible accounts were found to have been opened to avail the income support under the scheme meant for farmers. The accounts of non-farmers were credited with cash in instalments.

The investigation was still under way. There were remaining 4,741 ineligible accounts that have come to the notice of the authorities. Joint efforts by the departments of revenue, horticulture, and agriculture were under way to recover the remaining funds that were credited to those accounts.

Similarly, a complaint has also been lodged with the CB-CID police investigating the inter-district scam, against computer centres, their owners and other people, who had aided and abetted in scamming the government by creating ineligible accounts to siphon off the funds that were meant for the farmers here in Krishnagiri. Up to September 15, 2020, funds were recovered in full from 3,667 ineligible accounts.

The scheme had run into troubled waters after it had come to fore that thousands of ineligible accounts were created by hacking into the password of an agriculture department official and the same was used to siphon off government funds that was meant as income support for farmers to be deposited in three equal instalments annually.