As many as 41 married women have allegedly been availing the benefit of a pension scheme falsely claiming to be widows, a village pradhan in the district has complained following which a court has directed a probe into the matter.
The modus operandi involved these women removing vermilion from their foreheads and claiming that their husbands had expired.
The fraud was unearthed in Bhagwant Nagar village under MilakKhanam police station of the district by village head Kausalya Devi.
Kausalya had moved an application in the court of CJM Prashant Mittal alleging that former Pradhan's husband Bag Ram and one Deep chand of Bebakta village had been indulging in siphoning public money off the pension scheme in connivance with some of the employees of the development department.
In her complaint, she says that the duo have been charging Rs 5000 from each woman assuring them to get recurring financial aid sanctioned and get pension formalities done by showing them as widows.
However, the accused were withdrawing the pension amount from their accounts. It came to light when Kaushalya obtained the list of beneficiaries.
She also alleged inaction on the part of police forcing her to knock at the court's doors.
The judge yesterday directed the police to investigate the matter after registering complaint against the five accused including the husband of former village pradhan.
