CM Kanya Vivah Yojna fraud: 10 panchayat secretaries suspended in Niwari district

BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): The district administration of Niwari district have unveiled the scam going in chief minister Kanya Vivah Yojna,

Niwari district administration has suspended 10 panchayat secretaries for their alleged involvement in fraud in chief minister Kanya Vivah Yojna. Under the scheme, as many as 85 bogus marriages were performed on papers the money allotted for the same was allegedly siphoned off Rs 43 lakh in the district, said officials on Thursday. The administration has initiated the process to recover the amount.

Earlier, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) had registered a case and began investigation into the allegations of financial irregularities in the implementation of the scheme.

District collector Tarun Bhatnagar told Free Press ìAfter the instructions from the state government, marriages solemnised under the scheme were examined. It came to fore that 85 marriages were performed only on papers and the monetary assistance given under the scheme was transferred to ëbeneficiariesí who never existed. The collector said the fraud was committed during 2019-2022.

For these 85 marriages, a sum of Rs 43 lakh were handed over, however, the entire amount was allegedly siphoned off by panchayat officials, said the collector. ìThe district administration has suspended 10 panchayat secretaries and initiated a recovery process,î he added.

MP Marriage Assistance Scheme Scam-

The scam was uncovered on December 22, 2021, when MLA Umakant Sharma sought information from the state labour minister Brijendra Pratap Singh, about the money given to beneficiaries of the Kanya Vivah Yojna in the Sironj Janpad panchayat. Sharma demanded a state-wide probe into the scheme.

The EOW registered the case and started its investigations targeting 20 Banks and 93 Gram Panchayats of Sironj.†The ongoing inquiry has so far revealed a total of 5,923 fraudulent marriages and transactions to the tune of Rs 30,18,39,000 under the Chief Minister Kanya Vivah Yojna in Sironj janpad panchayat.

The investigation led to the suspension of Shobhit Tripathi, the chief executive officer of the Sironj Janpad panchayat on January 4. On January 6, EOW booked Tripathi, and two other men-††Hemant alias Jitendra Sahu and Yogendra Sharma, under the Forgery and Corruption Act; the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security) and 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating).