Narmada: A major scam has come to light in Bhacharvada village in Nandod taluka, where several women were found receiving widow pensions despite their husbands being alive. The women allegedly submitted fake death certificates to claim the benefits, sparking widespread outrage.

It is learned that around 10 women were fraudulently availing widow pension benefits by submitting false death certificates of their still-living husbands. This has raised serious concerns and suspicions about how many other government schemes may have been misused by the same group.

This follows another scam in which fake income certificates were created using forged signatures and seals of the Rajpipla Talati (village revenue officer) to secure school admissions under the RTE (Right to Education) Act. As many as 34 such admissions were cancelled by authorities after an internal probe.

Rajpipla Mamlatdar Padmaben Chaudhary confirmed the scam and said that verification of all suspicious entries has been assigned to local Talatis. Some reports have already been submitted. She added that verification is being conducted not only for the widow pension scheme but also for beneficiaries of other government schemes by the respective revenue officials in each area.

Meanwhile, despite a police complaint being filed over 1.5 months ago regarding the fake income certificate scam, no arrests have been made so far. The police’s inaction in this case has drawn criticism from public representatives. MP Mansukh Vasava expressed strong displeasure over the police’s failure to act and demanded that political protectors of the accused be named when the time comes. MLA Chaitar Vasava also questioned the police’s reluctance to arrest those involved in the scam, despite clear evidence. DeshGujarat