The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Saturday arrested a key official from the Social Welfare Department in Barabanki for alleged misappropriation of Rs 3 crore meant for the National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS).
Investigations revealed a coordinated scheme involving department officials and intermediaries who diverted funds meant for eligible families below the poverty line into fraudulent accounts. The NFBS provides Rs 20,000 financial aid to families upon the death of their primary breadwinner.
Following a complaint at Deva Police Station, Barabanki, the probe was transferred to the EOW. The accused, Ram Sanehi of Madhav village, was apprehended in the Kotwali area after evading arrest for months.
In a parallel development, the EOW also arrested Gurjant Singh Gill, director of Pearls Agro-tech Corporation Ltd (PACL), in Mohali, Punjab, as part of Operation Shikanja, targeting high-profile financial frauds.
PACL allegedly defrauded investors of approximately Rs 49,000 crore by promising plots and benefits that were never delivered. Registered in 2011 with the Registrar of Companies in Rajasthan, PACL operated across 10 states, including Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh.
The company unlawfully carried out banking operations without registering as a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) under the RBI Act, 1934. It attracted public deposits through lucrative schemes offering plots in return, issuing bond receipts as proof of investments.
Branches in Uttar Pradesh cities like Mahoba, Sultanpur, Farrukhabad, and Jalaun helped PACL amass the huge sum. After allegations of embezzlement surfaced in the Jalaun branch, the state government entrusted the EOW with the investigation, which resulted in FIR registration at Kanpur’s EOW Police Station.
