Ahmedabad: For nearly three decades, a widow from Ahmedabad allegedly drew her late husband’s police pension while concealing her remarriage.
A Widow’s Secret and a Pension That Never Stopped
When constable Kartik Vyas of the Ahmedabad Police died of cancer in 1993, his widow, Dakshaben Vyas, began receiving a family pension under the compassionate appointment scheme. She was also given a clerical post in the office of the Additional Director General of Police (CID Crime–Railways).
But investigators now allege that Dakshaben’s grief turned into a decades-long fraud. Despite remarrying, she continued to claim the pension meant for widows — a benefit that should have ceased the moment she tied the knot again. Every year, officials say, she filed self-declaration forms asserting she was still unmarried. The system, trusting her word, kept the money flowing.
Concealment and Forgery
According to the police, Dakshaben received over ₹14.89 lakh by submitting false declarations. For years, the pension office relied on her annual certifications, which went unverified. It wasn’t until 2020 — nearly 27 years after her husband’s death — that the CID Crime–Railways department discovered she had remarried.
The revelation triggered an internal inquiry, and her pension payments were immediately suspended. Investigators later concluded that Dakshaben had supported her false claims through forged documents submitted to the Pension Department in Gandhinagar.
Police Complaint and Legal Action
After the probe, the Pension Department forwarded its findings to the Additional Director General of Police’s office, which recommended legal action. Based on this communication, the Karanj Police Station registered a case against Dakshaben for fraud and forgery.
Officials said legal proceedings are now underway and will examine how the false declarations went undetected for decades. The inquiry, they added, would also assess whether any government officials were negligent or complicit in processing the fraudulent pension claims.
A System Under Scrutiny
Police sources said a further departmental review will determine if officials failed to cross-check Dakshaben’s declarations or ignored red flags.
