Police have registered a case against the board of directors of a Hyderabad-based company for allegedly selling fake fertilisers to farmers at Majalgaon in Maharashtra's Beed district, an official said on Saturday.
A man from Washim district in the state, who worked as a vendor of the company was also booked, he said.
According to police, the company did not have permission to sell fertilisers.
"The Beed District Agricultural Department's quality control team received information that bogus fertiliser was being sold in Majalgaon. Based on this tip-off, the team went to the company's unit in the city and conducted a search," the police official said.
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During the search, the team found 338 bags of fertiliser, worth Rs 4 lakh, manufactured by the company, at the centre, he said.
"The sample of the fertiliser was sent to a test laboratory in Aurangabad for analysis. The test report confirmed that the fertiliser was not certified," he said.
Based on the complaint filed by the district quality control inspector, a case was registered against the company representative in Washim and its board of directors under sections of the Essential Commodities Act and the Fertiliser (Control) Order in Majalgao city police station.
According to officials, the company had not obtained permission from the government for the sale of fertiliser. Hence, it cheated the government and the farmers by selling unlicensed and bogus fertiliser, the complaint said.
Following an inspection by the district-level quality control team, the Beed district superintendent agriculture officer suspended the licence of the fertiliser company's Majalgaon office.