Ten suspended in Niwari district for financial bungling in Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana

Ten suspended in Niwari district for financial bungling in Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana

More than Rs 43 lakh siphoned in the name of beneficiaries

FP News ServiceUpdated: Thursday, June 23, 2022, 05:36 PM IST
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Representative Photo | FPJ

RAJESH THAKUR

BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh)

The district administration in Niwari have unveiled the scam going in chief minister Kanya Vivah Yojna, in which as many as 85 bogus marriages were solemnised and the money was siphoned, said the officials on Thursday.

Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is investigating into the alleged scam of Pradesh marriage assistance scheme scam, which defrauded the government of an estimated Rs 30.4 crore between 2019 and 2021, covering 93 gram panchayats (village councils) and 20 banks.

A scam came to fore when the district administration of Niwari.

District collector Tarun Bhatnagar told Free Press “After the instructions from the state government, marriages done under the scheme was evaluated. During the evaluation in primary level we came to know that payment was released for 85 marriages which were never solemnised”.

He added “in these marriages around Rs 43 lakhs were distributed, but in actual case the money was siphoned by the panchayat officials.”

“The district administration has suspended more than 10 panchayat secretaries and have started the recovery process”, he added.

MP Marriage Assistance Scheme Scam EOW Investigating 20 Banks, 93 Gram Panchayats. 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 Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana.

The scam was uncovered on December 22, 2021, when Sironj 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 investigation into the scheme. The investigation led to the suspension of Shobhit Tripathi, the chief executive officer of the Sironj Janpad panchayat on January 4. On January 6, Tripathi was charged, along with two other men; Hemant alias Jitendra Sahu and Yogendra Sharma, by the EOW 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).

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