Jaipur, Feb. 16 -- A manager and employee of a State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Churu's Salasar and two unidentified representatives of the Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited were booked for alleged irregularities amounting to Rs.9 crore in the PM Fasal Bima Yojana, police said. According to the FIR, the company, in collusion with the bank, issued several fake claims under the scheme in the name of 71 farmers in Churu and Bikaner, and obtained payments. The FIR, filed by assistant director agriculture (extension) Govind Singh Rathore, stated, "In its preliminary probe, the government also found that the company issued claims for some lands that are not even listed in the revenue records. Yet, the company issued fake claims through the bank and obtained payment, each of which was worth a premium of Rs.3.51 lakh. The total projected amount of those fraudulent claims exceeded Rs.9 crore." The case was registered against SBI Salasar branch manager Umesh Saraswat, employee Bhagirath Nayak, and two unidentified representatives of the insurance company under sections 319(2) (cheating by personation), 318(4) (aggravated cheating) and 61(2)(a) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). An official from the agriculture minister's office said at least three insurance companies, licensed by the central government to register farmers for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), are under scrutiny for a massive Rs.122 crore fraud in the scheme's delivery. "Over 1.70 lakh (170,000) farmers applied their claims under the PMFBY scheme during Kharif 2023, Rabi 2023, Kharif 2024, and Rabi 2024. It was worth Rs.122 crore. However, these (insurance) companies reduced those claims to zero and fraudulently acquired the entire amount for their own benefit from the government. We will soon lodge an FIR against those companies to initiate a formal investigation," he said. htc...