- Allegations of Rs 700-crore scam in Telangana Sheep Rearing Scheme during BRS rule
- ED conducted raids in Hyderabad targeting officials and middlemen linked to the alleged scam
- CAG audit found over Rs 253 crore loss in seven districts, total loss may exceed Rs 1,000 crore
A wolf in sheep's clothing - that is what the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi government's flagship welfare initiative to provide sheep at 75 per cent subsidy has turned out to be. The scheme was meant to benefit poor shepherd families, create livelihood and improve rural economy. But the Comptroller and Auditor General has found misappropriation of funds through massive irregularities.
The CAG had flagged the issue in 2021, after which Telangana's Anti-Corruption Bureau filed a case based on which the Enforcement Directorate filed its ECIR (ED's FIR).
Today, the Enforcement Directorate launched extensive raids across eight locations in Hyderabad to probe what is now infamous as the alleged Rs 700-crore scam in sheep distribution when the BRS was in power.
Searches were conducted as part of a wider money laundering investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act --examining the money trail of suspected beneficiaries, middlemen and others linked to the Sheep Rearing Development Scheme.
The raids targeted premises of G Kalyan who served as OSD to the animal husbandry minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav, and also Ramchandra Naik, who was director of Telangana Livestock Development Agency, middlemen and prime accused Mohiduddin and his son Ikramuddin.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau has already arrested 17 people in connection with the case.
The ED's probe stems from multiple FIRs registered by the state police, which initially flagged the proceeds of crime amount of around Rs 2.1 crore.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, auditing the scheme for just seven of Telangana's 33 districts up to March 2021, has revealed a significantly larger financial loss to the government, estimated at over Rs 253 crore in those seven districts alone.
On a proportionate basis, the ED suspects the total loss across the entire state could exceed Rs 1,000 crore.
The CAG audit highlighted numerous irregularities, including missing details of beneficiaries, improper records of transportation invoices, payments made against fake, passenger, or non-transport vehicle registration numbers, issue of duplicate sheep tags, "allotment" of units of 20 sheep and a ram to deceased or non-existent individuals.
NDTV had reported, as an example, how the records had claimed that a bike had transported 126 sheep, a car had carried 168 sheep and an ambulance took 84 sheep to their destination.
The Sheep Rearing Development Scheme was launched in 2017 with the aim of supplying sheep on 75 per cent subsidy.
It reportedly involved the distribution of over 1.28 crore sheep at a cost of approximately Rs 4,980.31 crore.
Of these, around 82.74 lakh sheep were purportedly procured from other states and distributed to 3.92 lakh members of Primary Sheep Breeders Co-operative Societies.
However, subsequent investigations, including by the ACB and now the ED, suggest that substantial amounts were allegedly misappropriated through inflated procurement bills, fictitious transportation records, and the use of benami accounts.
In June 2024, the ED registered a money laundering case and has since been collecting documents from the animal husbandry department and the Telangana State Sheep and Goat Development Cooperative Federation, including beneficiary lists, vendor details, transport records, and payment files.
