Man impersonates father to withdraw his pension for 37 years

A man allegedly impersonated his father and withdrew his pension for 37 years hoodwinking authorities in Uttarakhand.

UK Sarkar not only hid his father's death to get his pension but also made his wife impersonate his mother to avail of four bank loans, a complaint of forgery and cheating has been lodged by the State Bank of India (SBI), police said.

A case has been registered at the Dalanwala police station here, they said

The man's father K K Sarkar was a forest department employee who retired in 1955. In 1965, he opened a pension account at the Convent Road branch of the SBI. When he died, his son did not inform the bank and continued to withdraw the pension, police said.
 

Bank records mention K K Sarkar as 119-years-old.

The fraud came to light after the Income Tax department recently asked the bank to physically verify all pensioners who were over 100-years-old, police said.

When bank officials visited Sarkars house for verification, his grandson informed them that he had died in 1981, assistant general manager of SBI, Dehradun main branch, Vinay Kumar Khatri said.

"An internal probe was immediately ordered into the fraud and a complaint lodged at Dalanwala police station, he said.

The accused fabricated a number of identity documents to impersonate his father and get the mandatory annual verification for pensioners, the bank official said.

Sarkar also availed four loans from the pension disbursing bank by making his wife impersonate his mother, he said.

The accused who is at large was drawing a monthly pension of approximately Rs 9,000.