India, July 15 -- A chargesheet was filed on Tuesday by the Chhattisgarh State Economic Offenses Investigation Bureau (EoW) in a financial fraud case involving the embezzlement of funds meant for tendupatta (tendu leaf) collectors in Sukma district of Bastar.

The EoW officials said that the case involves the misuse of approximately Rs.7 crore intended as incentive wages for forest produce collectors during the 2021 and 2022 tendupatta seasons.

The accused officials allegedly conspired to divert a large portion of this amount by preparing forged documents and using them as genuine records. So far, misappropriation of Rs.3.92 crore has been confirmed across eight remote primary forest produce cooperative societies out of the 17 committees...