BERHAMPUR: Rayagada police in Gajapati district on Sunday arrested two siblings on charges of embezzling the pension money of an 82-year-old woman for more than five years.
Police said every month, accused Niroj Bardhan (39) and his brother Jalja Bardhan (25) were withdrawing Rs 15,000 pension money of Subhagamana Swalsingh of Christian Sahi under Rayagada tehsil from her bank account without the victim’s knowledge.
After the death of her husband Sarang Nayak, a government schoolteacher, in 2006, Subhagamana had applied for family pension which was approved in 2015. However, she did not receive a single installment of the pension though the money was being regularly withdrawn from her bank account. With no money to sustain herself, the widow lived in a shanty by the roadside, collecting plastic bottles and scrap to survive.
The fraud came to light when bank officials reached Subhagamana’s shanty to get her life certificate three days back. Subsequently, Sukant Swalsingh, a relative of the widow, filed a complaint with police basing on which an investigation was launched. Rayagada IIC Kamala Chaudhary said police came to know that one Saroj Bardhan had taken Subhagamana’s documents, passbook and ATM card to facilitate the pension for her. However, he linked his own mobile phone number to the widow’s account and withdrew the pension meant for her every month.
The IIC said as the bank alerts went to Saroj’s mobile number, Subhagamana was unaware of the fraud. Five years back, Saroj died but his sons Niroj and Jalja continued to withdraw the widow’s pension every month without informing her.
The siblings are being interrogated and would be produced in court, the IIC added.
