Over 400 farmers, including a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker, have been duped by a private company in the name of doubling their income through contract fish farming in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, people aware of the matter said.
Madhya Pradesh’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has initiated an investigation in the matter after Sanjay Vishwakarma, a farmer, filed a complaint in March this year against Fish Fortune company of Gurugram, Haryana.
“The company started a contract fish farming business in August 2019 and lured farmers by promising to double their income. Their agents contacted farmers in at least four states and lured us… We trusted them as initially when they gave some money to farmers as profit. In October 2020, I agreed to do fish farming. They took ₹5 lakh as security money from me and also asked me to convert my 1.5-acre agricultural land into a fishpond,” said Vishwakarma. “According to the agreement signed in October 2020, the company was supposed to do fish farming. They were to provide fish seeds and purchase fish every six months from us. We needed to just take care of the fish. But neither they provide any fish seeds, nor they came to see the pond. Now, I lost my land as well as money.”
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Rajesh Singh, another farmer from Vidisha, who filed a complaint on Thursday, said he rented a piece of land and converted it into a pond. “Now I am under huge debt as the landowner wanted his land back in original condition or I have to pay money for that. I have contacted the company’s employees many times. Initially, they made an excuse…but now they are not responding.”
KD Singh, a farmer from Neemuch, said the company’s offices in Bhopal and Gurgaon are closed now. “We tried to contact everybody who came to lure us, but all the mobile numbers are switched off.”
Rajshree Rudrapratap Singh, the lawmaker who was also scammed, said she will take up this issue with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Rajesh Singh, police superintendent (EOW), said they have received a complaint and have started an investigation. “(We are also) contacting farmers.”
The Fish Fortune’s Gurgaon office number was found to be out of service. The company’s office in Bhopal has been locked and the phone number registered under its name has been allotted to someone else.