Bengal: Three men held for fraud in Lakshmir Bhandar Scheme

Kolkata, June 9 (IANS) Three men have been arrested in Murshidabad district’s Domkal area for illegally receiving benefits from the state government’s Lakshmir Bhandar social welfare scheme, said the police on Tuesday.

The Lakshmir Bhandar is meant for women of the state, and no man is entitled to receive financial assistance under this scheme.

There was a lot of excitement in Murshidabad over the incident. In the initial investigation, the police estimated that hundreds of men received financial assistance through the scheme by illegally posing as women.

“Three youths have been arrested. The list of those arrested includes Ali Khurram, whose home is in the Maniknagar area; Sargen Sheikh, whose home is in the Jorgachha area; and Mizanur Rahman, whose home is in the Laskarpur area.

The three were produced in the district court on Tuesday with a request for 10-day police custody,” said a senior officer of Murshidabad Police District.

According to the police officer, several men had been embezzling money from the previous state government’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme using the names of women for a long time. The three accused had opened the accounts illegally. Investigators estimate that it is not just these three, but several other big names are also involved.

In addition to interrogating the arrested people, officers of the Domkal Police Station are also conducting a search for the rest. The police want to keep them in custody for another 10 days for investigation purposes. They want to know how long they have been doing this work, how much money they have taken in, on whose orders they were doing it, and other details. Locals are already demanding strict punishment for the accused.

Last month, the police arrested a man on the charge of withdrawing money from the state government’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme for the last two years, impersonating a woman.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had said that around 30 lakh illegal beneficiaries, including males, had been receiving monthly amounts under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme introduced by the previous Mamata Banerjee-led regime in West Bengal.

–IANS

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