AGRA: A woman from Agra district reportedly ‘delivered’ 25 times and underwent sterilisation on five occasions in 30 months, from 2021 to 2023, to claim a govt dole of Rs 45,000, records at a community health centre in UP revealed.
That this was no real woman came to light after a recent audit found fraudulent claims under the govt’s National Health Mission-run schemes. The funds were transferred to a bank account opened by using fake documents in the name of Krishna Kumari, 35, who had no knowledge about the money.
Her identity was misused for the scam.
A complaint was filed against five persons, four of them health employees. Three of them were held Wednesday.
The fifth accused is an agent from Nagla Kadam, the village where Krishna Kumari lives, police said. This agent allegedly opened a bank account in Krishna’s name and then withdrew the govt dole from it.
“Four accused, on contract, were posted at Fatehabad CHC, while the fifth was an outsider. A thorough investigation is under way and efforts are on to find out whether there were more such cases,” Arun Srivastava,CMO, told TOI.
A health official said the fraudulent claims could not have been made without the involvement of health department employees. The involvement of administrative staff, nurses and even doctors cannot be ruled out, he added.
The scam revolves around NHM’s ‘Janani Suraksha Yojana’ and ‘Mahila Sterilisation Incentive Scheme’. These schemes offer financial aid to women – Rs 1,400 for rural delivery, Rs 1,000 for urban delivery and Rs 2,000 for a sterilisation procedure.
Police said Gaurav Thapa (block programme manager), Neeraj Awasthi (block accounting manager), Gautam Singh (data entry operator), and Azhar Ahmed (data entry operator at another CHC) were named in the FIR along with Ashok Kumar, the agent.
