Mule Accounts, Kickbacks: Raids Find Rs 1,000-Crore Trail Behind Cattle Scheme

Illegal payments and kickbacks to government officials were part of the Rs 1,000 crore money trail uncovered following raids by the Enforcement Directorate in Hyderabad in connection with the Telangana Sheep Rearing Development Scheme (SRDS).

The raids earlier this week led to the recovery of incriminating material that revealed a trail of financial irregularities and illegal activities.

A key finding of the searches was the seizure of documents pertaining to over 200 suspected dummy or "mule" bank accounts. These accounts, which included blank cheque books, passbooks and debit cards, are believed to be linked to an illegal online betting application. Additionally, 31 used mobile phones and more than 20 SIM cards, suspected of being used in these illicit operations, were also recovered.

The investigation has revealed that government funds intended for the SRDS were illegally diverted to the bank accounts of bogus vendors. ED's probe further substantiated that these recipients were not involved in the sheep business and that no actual sale or purchase of sheep was ever conducted by them.

This latest development is part of an ongoing investigation initiated by the ED on the basis of FIRs registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Hyderabad. One FIR alleged that G Kalyan Kumar, the Officer on Special Duty to the then Animal Husbandry Minister Thalasani Srinivasa Yadav, had removed official records from a department office after a new government was formed. Another complaint from a sheep merchant alleged that Rs 2.1 crore owed to them for supplying sheep units was siphoned off by departmental officials.

The ED's investigation has also corroborated the findings of a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report for the period ending March 2021. The audit, which was limited to just seven of the state's 33 districts, had already flagged numerous irregularities, including payments made against fake invoices, sheep units allotted to decad or non-existent persons, and the non-maintenance of beneficiary details. The CAG report estimated a loss of Rs 253.93 crore in these seven districts, leading the ED to project a potential total loss exceeding Rs 1,000 crore across the entire state.