HC rejects not guilty plea of accused in pension scam

LUCKNOW: The high court on Wednesday dismissed a bunch of writ petitions filed by scores of accused persons challenging the FIRs lodged in connection to distribution of old age pension to ineligible persons in Sitapur. The order was passed by a division bench of Justice Abdul Mateen and Justice V K Dixit. A large-scale scam was detected in the popular old age pension scheme of the government in the district. District social welfare officer, Y K Roy had lodged FIRs on August 14. The involvement of village pradhans and other officers of the block and social welfare department was prima facie established. The FIRs were lodged with Kotwali Sadar police station, Sitapur. When the police proceeded to probe into the matter, a number of writ petitions were filed in the court challenging the said FIRs. The accused pleaded their innocence arguing that they had no role in including name of the ineligible persons, who are about 5,055 in all. A team of government advocate, Mahendra Pratap and additional advocates, Umesh Chandra Verma and B K Nigam, vehemently contended that it was a large-scale scam in which the government officials and people's representatives bungled about Rs 92 lakh by diverting the pension money which was obtained in the name of fake persons mentioning their names as eligible persons and those below poverty line. The bench observed that the FIRs disclosed cognizable offence of serious nature in which the fund was diverted from the poor old age persons to fake persons and thus frustrating the scheme of the government. Interestingly, the complainant in the FIR, Roy was arrested by police for his involvement in the same scam.

"Loved reading this piece by Jithendra.H.J?
Join LAWyersClubIndia's network for daily News Updates, Judgment Summaries, Articles, Forum Threads, Online Law Courses, and MUCH MORE!!"

Join our Telegram group

Join our Whatsapp group