4 booked in Parli for fraudulent crop insurance proposal

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Parli police booked four people, including two multi-service centre owners, for allegedly submitting fake crop insurance proposal on Monday. The four accused cheated a farmer to gain his share of insurance money.
Two of the booked individuals submitted online proposal claiming crop insurance by showing the land of another farmer as their own. They filed the propals with the help of the other two accused service centre owners. When the victim farmer failed to receive his crop insurance amount of Rs 92,000 he complained with local authorities. Then the fraud came to the fore.
"The fake crop insurance claim was submitted during the second half of 2023. The accused showed agricultural land measuring around seven acres in Pangari as their own. The bogus proposal was filed online with the help of local multi-service centres that are present in rural areas to aid farmers," investigating officer Nitin Gattuwar said.
Police said the crop insurance firm first approached the original beneficiary farmer when it noticed multiple claims being filed for insurance.
"The farmer was clueless about what exactly happened. Later, his crop insurance claim was denied by the insurance firm. He then approached local authorities to raise the issue," police said.Parli police said the offence was registered after an inquiry was conducted in the matter.
Police invoked the Indian Penal Code Section 468 (Forgery), Section 471 (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), and Section 420 (Cheating). Notably, a section of politicians and social activists have been alleging many bogus claims of crop insurance in Parli.
The Pradhan Mantri fasal bima yojana (PMFBY) is the Centre's crop insurance scheme that helps farmers insure their crops at a subsidised rate. The scheme was launched in Feb 2016 and is availed by a very large number of farmers to insure their crops against natural calamities.