The Adilabad police on Monday busted an interstate spurious seed racket involved in sale of banned cotton seeds and uncertified pesticides.

Five members of a nine-member gang have been arrested and spurious as well as expired cotton seeds worth Rs 19 lakh, label printing and weighing machines, packing equipment, a car and four mobile phones were seized, police said.

Those arrested were identified as Papinvar Sunil Kumar, 56, a resident of Kothapet in Hyderabad, Eashwar of Ichoda in Adilabad district, Girish Patel of Idar in Gujarat, Rathod Pandit and Rathod Balaji of Yavatmal in Maharashtra. Four other accused including two each from Adilabad district and Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district are absconding.

Sunil Kumar, the kingpin of the gang, had earlier worked as a salesman in several seed companies. In 2018, he had floated a ‘Seed and Biopesticide’ company in Kothapet of Hyderabad to carryout his ‘illegal trade’ in a clandestine manner, police added.

Police said the main accused confessed to smuggling the spurious cotton seeds from Idar in Gujarat and selling the spurious seeds to gullible farmers in Adilabad district in connivance with other members of the gang.

Adilabad Superintendent of Police Akhil Mahajan has warned of stringent action against those selling fake seeds and banned pesticides.