Jaipur, May 7 (IANS) A major alleged fraud involving crores of rupees under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana has surfaced in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district.

Authorities claim preparations were underway to disburse insurance claims worth nearly Rs 9 crore, allegedly in violation of established norms, but the process was stopped at the last moment following the intervention of Agriculture Minister Kirodi Lal Meena.

The revelation has triggered panic within the banking system, and steps have reportedly been initiated to freeze the accounts of farmers now under investigation.

On Thursday, Agriculture Minister Kirodi Lal Meena visited the State Bank branch in Pallu, Hanumangarh, to probe irregularities linked to the crop insurance scheme.

During the inspection, he asked Branch Manager Ankush Miglani to produce the Girdawari (crop inspection records) allegedly uploaded for 162 insured farmers.

However, the manager informed him that the records were unavailable at the branch.

When questioned over the large-scale discrepancies, the manager reportedly failed to provide satisfactory answers, leading to a heated exchange.

“If you cannot show documents to a minister, perhaps you will show them to the Station House Officer,” Meena remarked, directing the Station House Officer present at the scene to question the manager on how insurance policies had been issued without mandatory Girdawari records.

Calling the matter “extremely serious,” the minister alleged that insurance policies had been issued without mandatory Jamabandi (land ownership documents).

He said claims worth crores of rupees were on the verge of being processed and would have resulted in a massive fraud under the guise of a government welfare scheme.

According to him, savings accounts had been opened in the names of 162 individuals claiming to be farmers, and premiums under the crop insurance scheme had been deducted from these accounts, including contributions from both the state and central governments.

The minister alleged collusion among bank employees, insurance companies, and a larger “mafia” network.

The minister further claimed that the insured individuals were not local farmers and allegedly belonged to places including Mumbai, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Jaipur, and parts of Bikaner.

In a shocking revelation, he stated that revenue records showed no agricultural land registered in the names of many beneficiaries in the villages and land blocks where they allegedly owned farmland.

Reports submitted by local Patwaris also confirmed the absence of such names in official land records.

“How were premiums deducted and claims processed when these individuals did not even own land?” the minister questioned.

According to the minister, the alleged operation had been running since July 2025.

Premiums were deducted over the past year, and claims worth nearly Rs 9 crore were scheduled to be released within days before the fraud came to light.

He also linked the case to earlier crop insurance irregularities reported in Salasar and Bikaner, including one instance where claims worth nearly Rs 6 crore were allegedly processed despite no groundnut crop having been sown.

Meanwhile, Ankush Miglani, manager of the State Bank of India branch in Pallu, stated that all documents related to the case had been forwarded to senior authorities following the emergence of the controversy.

He confirmed that a formal complaint had been lodged with Pallu Police Station seeking registration of a First Information Report.

–IANS

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