Ludhiana company owner held in paddy seed scandal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 31

The Punjab Police on Sunday busted the paddy seed scam with the arrest of a private firm’s owner found selling spurious seed to farmers at exorbitant rates by touting them as some newly developed varieties of seeds, which have still not been certified by the Central Seed Notified Committee for commercial marketing.

The private firm has been identified as Ludhiana-based Brar Seeds, owned by Harwinder Singh (56), alias Kaka Brar, who has been arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Ludhiana Police, said DGP Dinkar Gupta. The licence of the store, located opposite the PAU gate no. 1, has been cancelled and the premises have been sealed.

Kaka Brar is being questioned and investigations are expected to lead to more arrests in the case (FIR no. 116 dated May 11, 2020, under Sections 2, 3 and 7 of the EC Act and Section 3 of the Seed Control Act), the DGP said. The case was registered after Ludhiana Chief Agriculture Officer Narinder Singh Benipal checked the Brar Seeds store and suspected misdeeds.

Ludhiana Commissioner of Police Rakesh Aggarwal said the SIT was formed led by a senior officer of the rank of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ludhiana, to investigate the case. The Chief Agriculture Officer was included in the team as a technical expert.

During extensive raids carried out by the SIT, a huge stock of seed was seized from the Brar Seed store, and samples were sent to the Agriculture Department laboratory for analysis. The analysis brought out that some of the seeds were spurious, Aggarwal said.

Initial investigations show that Brar was using the names (PR 128 and PR 129) of the new paddy varieties developed by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) to cheat farmers by selling spurious seeds branded as such. Incidentally, the PAU is yet to commercially produce the seeds, which have not been supplied to any private company.

Following the arrest and seizure of the spurious seeds, the district administration, accompanied by police and Agriculture Department officials, carried out checking of shops selling seeds in Ludhiana, and also took samples of the seeds being sold. These samples have been sent for laboratory checks.

The district police have also issued helpline numbers 91156-01160 and 91156-01161 for farmers to complain about over-charging by seed shops and any suspicion regarding the quality of seed and fertilisers.

Fake branding

Initial investigations show that Brar Seeds owner Harwinder Singh was selling spurious seeds to farmers by branding these as new paddy varieties developed by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU).

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.