Three arrested on charge of committing irregularities in issuance of e-stamps in Andhra Pradesh

Three persons have been arrested on charges of committing irregularities in the issuance of e-stamps and causing loss to the State exchequer.

The are accused of purchasing e-stamps of low-value denomination from the Stock Holding Corporation of India in Kurnool, converting them into high-value ones using photoshop, and selling the same to customers.

Superintendent of Police P. Jagadeesh told the media on Saturday that they had started investigation based on the complaint lodged on June 22 by G. Satish Babu, assistant general manager, SRC Infra Developer Private Limited.

In his complaint, Mr. Satish Babu alleged that they had purchased e-stamps from Babu Mee Seva centre at Kalyandurg, and during their internal verification found irregularities in its issuance.

It was alleged that the Mee Seva organiser had committed irregularities, causing a loss of ₹7.9 lakh to the exchequer in the sale of eight e-stamps to them. The complainant alleged that the Mee Seva organisers, Katta Bhargavi, Boya Errappa and Mohan Babu, had committed the fraud.

The police, during investigation, found that SRC Infra had purchased 410 e-stamps from Babu Mee Seva centre since 2022, and irregularities were detected in 17 of them. While SRC Infra had paid ₹16.51 lakh towards e-stamps to Errappa, alias Mee Seva Babu, the latter paid just ₹2,000 towards stamp duty, causing a loss of ₹16.49 lakh to the government.

On June 25, the police had received a complaint from NEO Construction Company Limited, Bengaluru, stating that they had purchased three e-stamps from Mee Seva Babu by paying ₹2.50 lakh towards stamp duty, but the latter remitted just ₹300, causing loss to the government. A similar complaint was lodged by Suraj Infra based in Uravakonda mandal, the police said.

Mr. Jagadeesh said investigation done so far revealed that Mee Seva Babu had purchased 15,851 e-stamps from the Stock Holding Corporation of India and paid e-stamp duty of ₹32.80 lakh.

The police arrested Errappa, Mohan Babu and another person, Bhuvaneswar, on Saturday, and seized three mobile phones, three CPUs, three monitors, printers, laptop, 88 empty e-stamps and other documents from their possession.