CHITRAKOOT: What began as irregular pension payments in a district treasury has expanded into a sprawling investigation, uncovering forged identities, dormant bank accounts and a network of middlemen that moved crores of rupees out of the public exchequer.
The Special Investigation Team, or SIT, is now focused on tracking down absconding beneficiaries and intermediaries linked to a large-scale pension fraud, as it prepares to present a consolidated body of evidence before the court. Investigators say the case has exposed not only individual wrongdoing but also structural vulnerabilities within the banking and treasury systems that allowed irregular payments to continue for years.
The fraud, rooted in treasury operations between 2018 and 2025, involves forged payment orders and manipulated bank accounts tied to deceased pensioners and fictitious identities. Officials say corrective steps are likely to follow once the investigation is complete.
How the Case Was Registered
According to investigators, the case formally took shape on October 17, 2025, when senior treasury officer Ramesh Singh Patel filed a report at the city Kotwali police station. The complaint named assistant accountants Sandeep Shrivastava and Ashok Kumar, assistant treasury officer Vikas Sachan, retired assistant treasury officer Awadhesh Pratap Singh, and 93 account holders.
Sandeep Shrivastava later died during medical treatment, officials confirmed. The FIR alleged that pension payments were siphoned off through fraudulent instructions, triggering the formation of a Special Investigation Team to examine the scale and mechanics of the scheme.
Tracing the Money Trail
Investigators say their inquiry revealed that several pensioners, acting through middlemen, routed portions of fraudulent payments into their accounts via online transfers and cheques. The SIT matched transaction codes and banking records to reconstruct the flow of funds, building what officials describe as a strong documentary trail.
In some cases, accounts belonging to deceased pensioners were reopened. One account, investigators found, was operated in the name of a person called Rajendra Kumar—an identity that, upon verification, was found to have no real existence.
Networks of Middlemen and Recoveries
The SIT has questioned family members of two deceased pensioners to identify the brokers who facilitated irregular payments and shared in the proceeds. So far, officials say ₹3.98 crore has been recovered.
Authorities maintain that once the probe is concluded, the full network of fraudulent beneficiaries and intermediaries will be laid bare, and recovery proceedings will be expanded. The investigation has already identified 21 beneficiaries and brokers who allegedly trapped pensioners and enabled unauthorised payments from the treasury. Of these, seven have been sent to jail, while others remain under scrutiny.
Scale of the Fraud Across Districts
According to investigators, forged payment orders were used to transfer approximately ₹43.13 crore into the accounts of 93 pensioners between 2018 and 2025. The case has been registered against 97 people in total, including four treasury employees. Thirty-three accused have been arrested so far.
The SIT says it examined nearly 250 bank accounts to gather evidence of embezzlement. The transactions were not confined to a single area but extended to Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Fatehpur and Banda districts. Among the identified middlemen, seven have been arrested, while 14 are still absconding.
