A shocking case of fraud has come to light in Pali of Rajasthan. ₹7 crore were taken from “Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi” by creating fake accounts in the name of Muslims in Hindu villages. Notably, there isn’t a single Muslim in these hamlets. The money was transferred into accounts that were set up in the names of individuals from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Around 29 thousand such fake accounts have been found in the Pali district.
20,000 bogus accounts were uncovered in Desuri, 9,004 in Rani and 62 in Marwar Junction during the investigation after which a case had been filed. It is pertinent to note that in 2020, Congress was in power in the state and the Chief Minister of the state was Ashok Gehlot. This scam, according to reports, took place while Congress was in power.
The scam transpired in 2020 but the authorities tried to cover up the news. They did not even register an FIR (First Information Report) in the matter.
Nevertheless, the officials prevented the money from reaching the phony accounts and froze them.
An exclusive investigation by Dainik Bhaskar unveiled that applications for Pradhan Mantri (PM) Samman Nidhi were submitted under the names of fake farmers using e-mitra and CSC (Common Service Centers) between 2019 and August 2020. After confirming the application, the Patwari forwarded it to the Tehsildar. Additionally, the latter delivered the application forms to the collector after verifying them. The list reached the central government in this manner.
The centre then began transferring Kisan Nidhi funds to these accounts. It is now suspected that the government ID was hacked to approve these applications. However, the matter is currently under inquiry. It is being determined if these applications were authorized using multiple government IDs or the same ones. According to the administration, a significant number of applications were submitted for the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi in Desuri in 2020. This resulted in a sharp rise in the quantity of pending applications.
On 5th November of that year, there were 265 outstanding applications, by 21st December the number had unexpectedly risen to 19,331. These accounts were discovered to be fraudulent when the officials conducted a probe. These accounts were made in the names of individuals from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Ninety-five per cent of them were in Muslim names. An investigation showed that the community of Desuri doesn’t have any Muslims.
Kisan Samman Nidhi funds totaling ₹1 crore 51 lakh 24 thousand were moved to 4,793 bank accounts located outside of Rajasthan in similar manner. These accounts were frozen afterward. The same has been the case with Varkana village in Rani block. There is not a single Muslim in the village, but 9,004 fake accounts were opened there in the name of Muslims. All these were registered on the same day. What’s striking is that all of these accounts were opened in a branch of a bank located in Rani. Three installments of Kisan Samman Nidhi had also been deposited in these accounts under Muslim names.
All of these accounts were opened in the names of individuals from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar according to the investigation. There are 90% Muslim names among these. All these were registered at the simultaneously and the applications were also approved on the government portal on different dates at the same time. 62 fake accounts have been found in Marwar Junction of the state.
According to officials, there are a lot of these gangs operating in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh that steal funds from Kisan Samman Nidhi by making phony identification documents. While the applications of the actual farmers in that village were denied, these bogus requests were accepted on the portal without an OTP. This resulted in the submission of 32,000 fictitious applications.
The case that has come to light in Rajasthan seems to be the work of a large gang as a similar case had also come to light in Chhattisgarh in March 2024. The money of Kisan Samman Nidhi was reportedly transferred to the accounts of 856 phony farmers in a village in the Bemetara district. 198 of these accounts were from West Bengal. The district collector had ordered an investigation once the issue was made public.
The proceeds of this initiative was sent in the accounts which were in the names of 656 Muslims in the district’s Berla block’s Bargaon. There are just 19 Muslim farmers in this village, according to the inquiry. Not one of them resided in the village. During this entire process, a swindle totaling approximately ₹3 crore was uncovered.
