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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted raids at eight locations across Hyderabad in connection with the ongoing investigation in the Sheep Distribution and Development Scheme (SRDS) case, officials said.
The agency sleuths carried out simultaneous searches at the premises of the targeted individuals believed to be involved in the misappropriation of funds from the government scheme. "Certain beneficiaries of the scheme and middlemen have been identified on the basis of money trail, and their premises are being searched," the officials, privy to the development, told ANI. As per the ED investigators, though the Proceeds Of Crime (POC) involved in the First Information Reports (FIRs) were only Rs 2.1 crore, as per the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG's) report, "loss to the government is running into hundreds of crores." "CAG's Audit Report for period ended March-2021 revealed several irregularities in the implementation of the SRDS scheme viz. non-maintenance of beneficiary wise details, improper record of invoices pertaining to transportation invoices and payments, payments against invoices containing fake and passenger vehicles and non-transport vehicle registration numbers., duplicate tags allotted to sheep units, sheep units allotted to dead and non-existent persons, etc," said the officials. The CAG's audit report is limited to only seven districts (out of 33 in Telangana) wherein the estimated loss to the Telangana government is pegged at Rs 253.93 crores, as mentioned by the officials. "On a proportionate basis for all the 33 districts in the entire state of Telangana, the loss is likely to exceed Rs 1,000 crores. Crucial information has been obtained by ED, which indicates massive fraud in the scheme," added the officials Telangana government's SRDS, launched in 2017, aimed to supply 20 sheep and one ram per unit to shepherd families, with 75 per cent subsidy support. Over 1.28 crore sheep were reportedly distributed during the scheme's initial phase. However, investigations later revealed that significant amounts were misappropriated through inflated procurement bills, fake transportation records, and benami accounts. (ANI)
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