An investigation on the orders of Lokayukta has unearthed a major fraud where hundreds of accused with the help of middlemen took away money under the Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivaah Yojana (UP government’s mass marriage scheme) in Ghaziabad. In the investigation, around 156 marriages solemnized were found to be fake.
As per the investigation, these girls have either been married many years ago, or they faked the marriage during the event. The investigation found that some accused got their daughters married twice or faked the year of their marriage to siphon money under the scheme.
The probe found that some girls had been married for two to six years, yet they sat in the wedding hall on the day of the mass marriage event with their husbands. The already-married couples acted as if their marriages were to be solemnised afresh on that day.
In some cases, the so-called to-be married couple got photographed in the mass marriage event and they parted ways once money under the government scheme was credited into their account.
In many cases, the middlemen lured laborers who had registered themselves with the Labour Department. They promised the laborers to give Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 and in return they asked them to sign the marriage forms availed under the government scheme. In lieu of money, these laborers gave their important documents like Aadhaar cards and photos to these middlemen. These middlemen carried out all the formalities like filling out the online application forms for the marriage of the daughters of the labourers.
In cahoots with officials in the Labour Department, they got the applications approved.
As per the modus operandi, the middlemen asked anyone to sit in the wedding hall and pretend to be a married couple during such an event in Ghaziabad, on November 24, 2022. Subsequently, they carried out other formalities under the scheme like photographing the fake wedding. Once it was done, they received the sanctioned money under the scheme, and the ‘bride’ and ‘groom’ parted ways.
However, the nexus got exposed when some labourers did not receive the full amount and they raised complaints regarding the same.
The probe finds instances of forgery and fabrication as well
As reported by Dainik Bhaskar, Mahendra Singh who is a resident of Nai Basti Harvanshnagar, got his three daughters married under this scheme and received Rs 2.25 lakh from the government. The investigation found that two daughters only existed on paper and the date of birth on the Aadhaar cards of his daughters only showed an age gap of 3 to 5 months which is not possible.
Dharam Singh, a labourer from Amrala village received money from the government to get his daughter married under the scheme however Investigation revealed that the daughter had been married 5 years ago.
Similarly, Premvati, a native of Atrauli village took money by showing her daughter Nidhi’s marriage. However, the investigation found that she does not have any daughter with this name. Interestingly, on the Aadhaar card, Premwati’s age is reflected as 30 years whereas her daughter’s age is 27 years.
Timeline of investigation and similar action elsewhere
Afterward, on 16 March 2023, Pandit Gajendra Sharma, General Secretary of the National Organisation of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Kisan Shakti), sent a complaint to Lokayukta Lucknow accusing fraud in marriages.
Along with the complaint, he also submitted a list of 175 marriages which he claimed were fake. Consequently, in the first week of April, the Lokayukta ordered an investigation and asked for an investigation report from DM Ghaziabad Rakesh Kumar Singh within 15 days. The three-member committee, after conducting a long investigation, submitted its report to the DM.
On August 21, 2023, the DM sent an 800-page investigation report to the Deputy Commissioner, Lucknow. According to the report, 156 out of 175 complaints were found genuine and these 156 marriages were indeed found to be fraudulent, as per the investigation. Whereas, 2 complaints could not be verified and 3 complaints were incorrect. While the names of 14 laborers were found to be double in the list of 175.
Subsequently, in May 2023, an FIR was filed at Sihani Gate police station in Ghaziabad against 7 girls accusing them of conducting fraud in marriages. It was alleged that these girls were already married and to siphon money from the government, they pretended to be married again under mass marriage event.
Notably, many similar fraudulent or cases of forgery in marriages have also been caught in Bulandshahr. In some cases, money has also been recovered from some laborers. Whereas, three people from the Labor Department have also been suspended.
Earlier, similar cases of fraud in marriages were caught in Noida in the year 2018.
UP govt’s Kanya Vivaah Yojana
Under the Yogi Adityanath government’s mass marriage scheme, labourers who have been registered with the labour department for at least 365 days, can get financial assistance of Rs 82000 for their daughter’s marriage.
Under the scheme, the state government organises mass marriages for daughters of registered labourers and provides financial help to the family.
Rs 65000 are given for the marriage grant, Rs 10000 for the clothes of the bride and groom, and Rs 7000 are given for other arrangements.
In Ghaziabad, one such mass marriage event took place on 24 November 2022 in which marriages of almost three thousand couples from 3 districts were solemnised.
