Berhampur: A fraud in providing post-Phailin assistance to fishermen of Ganjam district has came to the fore with police arresting a couple from Gopalpur on charges of misappropriating Rs 86 lakh.
The couple was arrested yesterday for allegedly misappropriating Rs 86 lakh meant for supply of boats and nets to the cyclone-hit fishermen under Rastriya Krishi Vikash Yojana, police said today.
The couple, owner of a company and his wife, did not supply the materials to 77 beneficiaries in the aftermath cyclone Phailin of October 12, 2013, and pocketed the amount, they said.
Branch Manager, UCO Bank (Gopalpur) R K Panda lodged a complaint against the couple on Tuesday after some beneficiaries complained that they did not know about sanction of loan while others said they did not get the materials even though loan was sanctioned to them, police said.
Fisheries and animal resources development department identified beneficiaries and forwarded their applications to the bank to sanction loan. The bank sanctioned loan of Rs 1,43,825 to each beneficiaries, they said.
Of the amount, Rs 1 lakh was subsidy and the beneficiaries were asked to repay the rest to the bank in a year. The department selected the company to give boats and nets to beneficiaries. The couple took Rs 1.11 crore from the bank from January 21 to November 27,2014, Jena said.
The fraud came to light when the bank sent notices to the beneficiaries to repay the loan after deducting subsidy.