UP: Woman held for pension fund fraud of Rs 1.37 cr

Lucknow, Dec 17 (IANS) The Lucknow police have arrested Renuka Ram, the expelled accountant of the treasury office, who was previously booked with four accomplices in embezzling over Rs 1.37 crore of government funds disguised as pension disbursements.According to the police, out of all the accused at large, Renuka Ram, a Daliganj resident, was arrested on Saturday from near the treasury office located in Jawahar Bhawan and she has been sent on police remand.Renuka, along with her four aides, has been accused of embezzling over Rs 1.37 crore of government funds under the guise of pension disbursements, for which a case was filed with the Qaiserbagh police by treasury officer Rahul Singh on November 27.An FIR was registered against the accused under charges of IPC 420 (cheating), IPC 467 (forging documents), 468 (forgery), 471 (Forgery of a valuable security), and 7/13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.During the investigation, IPC 409 (and the Prevention of Corruption Act) was also added to the FIR, said the press statement by police.Along with the treasury accountant Renuka Ram, her associates booked in the case are Vishal from Daliganj, his mother Gulabi, Pratindra Kashyap from Qaiserbagh and Ramrati from Daliganj.Vishal, a native of Maharajganj district is a distant relative of the prime accused Renuka.According to the FIR, fraudulent activities occurred between 2014 and 2019, falsely claiming pension disbursements for Vishal, Gulabi, Pratindra and Ramrati.Preliminary investigations revealed that none of the supposed beneficiaries were eligible for pensions, and their identity documents were misused in the preparation of pension release bills.The FIR also highlighted the prime accused’s inability to provide explanations regarding the verification of birth dates, address proofs, and other details of the beneficiaries.Furthermore, she failed to clarify whether the funds were genuinely used or withdrawn by the beneficiaries.Investigations disclosed that a pension of over Rs 22.71 lakh, issued in Vishal’s name, was transferred to Pratindra Kashyap’s bank account. In two other instances of embezzlement, counterfeit digital documents were fabricated to facilitate the crimes.An additional Rs 46.96 lakh was transferred to Vishal’s bank account, Rs 42.31 lakh to Gulabi’s account, and Rs 30.4 lakh to Ramrati’s account.It was also revealed that Ramrati is Gulabi’s mother, and the prime accused, Renuka, is related to Vishal, Gulabi and Ramrati. Pratindra’s bank details were utilised to hoard the ill-gotten money, which was later withdrawn using ATMs in the Daliganj locality.–IANSamita/prw