Mau: In a major breakthrough in the Rs 43.13 crore treasury scam, police have arrested 11 pensioners and 4 middlemen involved in large-scale financial fraud, officials confirmed on Wednesday.
The middlemen acted as intermediaries, connecting pensioners with treasury officials and facilitating illegal transfers. Under the guise of “additional pension payments,” large sums were credited to pensioners’ accounts and later shared among the conspirators.
The scam came to light during a government audit, prompting the Chief Treasury Officer to file cases against several officials, including the deceased ledger clerk Sandeep Srivastava, Ashok Verma, ATO Vikas Singh Sachan, retired ATO Avadhesh Pratap Singh, and 93 pensioners.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by CO City Arvind Verma conducted extensive questioning of multiple suspects. On Tuesday, treasury officials Vikas Singh Sachan and Ashok Verma were summoned to the Kotwali police station along with several pensioners.
The arrested pensioners include: Dhanpati Devi, Laxmi Devi, Kamla Devi, Santosh Mishra, Mohanlal (two individuals), Jagat Narayan Tripathi, Durga Prasad, Ram Shiromani, Jawahar Lal, and Ramratan. The middlemen arrested are Omprakash, Amritlal alias Panchu, Mithlesh alias Bhola, and Gaurendra Shivhare.
According to ASP Satyapal Singh, all accused were remanded to jail after interrogation and medical formalities.
Interestingly, the scam was exposed due to a complaint by Kamla Devi, one of the arrested pensioners. When Rs 31 lakh were deposited into her account, the audit team questioned her and demanded the return of the funds. She then approached the Mau police, reporting that her brother Omprakash had illicitly withdrawn the money using her bank account details.
Subsequent investigations revealed fraudulent deposits totaling Rs 43.13 crore across 93 pension accounts, highlighting a well-orchestrated government-targeted scam.
