Adilabad and Mancherial police step up checks on fake cotton seeds, seize 792 ‘Pink Bond’ packets

Police in Telangana’s Adilabad and Mancherial districts have intensified action against spurious cotton seeds, seizing 792 packets of “Pink Bond” worth ₹9.5 lakh and expired cotton seeds and pesticides valued at ₹9 lakh. Authorities arrested nine suspects, including a Hyderabad agri-input company proprietor and a man from Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district. The crackdown comes during the cotton sowing season in north Telangana, when agents allegedly sell fake seeds to farmers at lower prices or on instalments, risking poor germination and a smaller effective planted area.