In February 2018, the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Maharashtra set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe companies that were allegedly selling or releasing unapproved herbicide-tolerant (HT) transgenic cotton, or Bt cotton, seeds in the state.
In particular, the state had accused several seed companies of surreptitiously releasing the seeds in several cotton-growing districts of Maharashtra, and parts of Gujarat, Telangana and Karnataka.
The resolution forming the SIT specifically mentioned seed giants like Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Pvt. Ltd, Monsanto Holdings Pvt. Ltd. and Monsanto India Ltd., and the terms involved inquiry of the roles of these companies in the unauthorised production, storage and sale of HtBt cotton seeds with HT transgenic gene.
The probe had taken the SIT chief, also a special IG of police, Krishna Prakash, to many parts of the state and even to Gujarat and Telangana.
— source thewire.in | Sukanya Shantha, Kabir Agarwal | 21/Jul/2021