Nanded, Apr 30 (UNI): The district Rural Police on Monday arrested chairman of Shetkari Sugar Ltd (factory) Abhijit Uttamrao Deshmukh from Pune on charge of allegedly duping the sugarcane producers of Rs 2.52 crore.
He was arrested based on a complaint filed against him in 2016 in this matter, police said.
The sugar factory, located at Saikheda in Parbhani district, did not pay the amount of Rs 2.52 crore towards procurement of sugarcane to the farmers. As many as 240 sugarcane producers from Nanded district had sold 3,000 metric tonne sugarcane to the factory. It was agreed to pay Rs 1,598 per metric tonne of sugarcane.
Even after continuous persuasion, when the chairman did not pay the amount of the procurement, a farmer Govind Sambhaji Gopanpalle, resident of Nyahali village in Mudkhed tehsil, lodged a complaint with the Mudkhed police on July 8, 2016 and accordingly a case of cheating was filed against accused Deshmukh and office-bearers of the factory.
During investigation, it was found that the factory had earned Rs 30 crore out of sale of 37,000 metric tonne of sugar. However, accused Deshmukh was untraceable to the police for last three years. In the meantime, a bail petition filed by Deshmukh was rejected by the Nanded district court.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of Rural Police went to Pune, arrested the accused and brought him to Nanded, sources added.
