Merchant held for manipulating weighing scale to dupe farmers

A merchant was arrested for allegedly cheating farmers by manipulating an electronic weighing machine using a remote control at Sarangi village in the district, a police official said today.

According to the official, the grain merchant- Rishabh Bambori- was caught by a farmer yesterday when the latter had gone to sell his wheat crop. The farmer found that the accused was secretly using a remote control to show the wrong weight of the wheat-filled bags when they were kept on the weighing scale.

"The farmer Premsingh Damar (25) from Kasarbardi village went to the grain merchant at Sarangi village in the district yesterday to sell 15 quintals of wheat. Before going to the shop, he weighed the grain at home to know its exact weight," Petlawad police station in-charge Lokendra Singh Thakur said.

"But when the merchant started weighing the yield on his electronic machine, it showed that the per bag weight was reduced by five kgs, as compared to what the farmer had registered at home. Despite repeatedly checking the weight, there was no difference, following which the farmer grew suspicious," he added.

The farmer later observed that every time the bag was kept on the weighing machine, Bambori would put his hand into his trouser's pocket. When Damar confronted him, he told him that there was only key-chain in his pocket.

"When the weighing process began again, the complainant and others searched Bambori's pocket and found a remote control. After came to know that the remote control was linked to the weighing machine and the moment its button was pressed, it used to reduce the per bag weight by 5 kgs," the officer said.

When the farmers realised that they were being duped, they created a ruckus and sought that a case be registered against the trader.

"Soon, a police team reached the spot and arrested Rishabh when he was trying to escape from the spot. His four associates, however, managed to flee," Thakur said adding that a search has been launched to nab them.

A case under relevant sections of the IPC including section 420 (cheating) and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against all the accused.

Local mandi officials have seized the electronic weighing machine along with the remote control for further investigation.