'Lungi, not lathi': 34 arrested after T'gana cop busts farmer loan scam

HYDERABAD: For inspector Bandari Raju of Ichoda constabulary presumption successful Telangana's Adilabad district, solving a transgression didn't necessitate a gun—it needed a towel and a achromatic lungi.He knew the powerfulness of the khaki uniform.

But connected this day, it would lone get successful the way. Determined to bust a increasing racket of agents cheating susceptible farmers astatine banks, Raju ditched his uniform, walked into a shop, bought a towel and a lungi, and transformed himself into what nary 1 would suspect: An unassuming farmer.

The disguise worked flawlessly.Disguised arsenic a distressed farmer, Raju approached middlemen who had built a concern retired of robbing the precise radical they claimed to help.

Once helium earned their trust, the trap was sprung. Two plainclothes officers, waiting nearby, would swoop successful to marque the arrests.

Deceptive schemeThe modus operandi of these agents was elemental but sinister. They offered to "help" farmers wide existing slope loans. Once the aged indebtedness was cleared—usually by depositing wealth into the farmer's account—they would propulsion the husbandman to use for a caller loan, which typically included an accrued recognition bounds of 20% to 30%.

But determination was a catch.After the caller indebtedness was disbursed, the agents would person the husbandman to transportation the afloat magnitude to their accounts. From that sum, they would lone instrumentality the magnitude equivalent to the aged loan, softly siphoning disconnected ₹10,000 oregon much from the excess—without the husbandman realising they had been duped."Many farmers genuinely believed these agents were doing them a favour," inspector Raju said. "But successful truth, the middlemen were lining their ain pockets, preying connected ignorance of the farmers," helium told TOI.Crackdown crossed AdilabadThe racket yet drew the attraction of Adilabad's apical brass. District superintendent of constabulary Akhil Mahajan launched a full-scale operation, forming 16 peculiar teams to instrumentality retired crossed banks successful agrarian mandals.W

hile astir officers followed accepted methods to way and apprehension the suspects, inspector Raju's undercover cognition stood retired for its creativity—and effectiveness."I adjacent changed my assemblage language—stooped somewhat to look older, wore spectacles to lucifer the part. No 1 suspected a thing," Raju said, recalling however helium would casually chat with agents, corroborate their shady dealings, and discreetly awesome his squad to determination in.The cognition culminated connected Thursday with the apprehension of 34 agents crossed the district—Gudihathnoor mandal–nine, Utnoor mandal–five, Narnoor mandal–11, Bela mandal–three, Bheempur mandal–two, Mavala mandal–one, and Indravelli mandal–three. Cheating cases were registered against the accused nether conception 118 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.Inspector Raju's unconventional attack not lone helped drawback a web of fraudsters but besides highlighted the urgent request for amended fiscal literacy and safeguards for farmers navigating analyzable indebtedness systems, a fiscal adept said.

Get the latest manner updates connected Times of India, on with Eid wishes, messages, and quotes !