A woman from Maninagar, Ahmedabad, has come under legal scrutiny for allegedly defrauding the government by continuing to claim her deceased husband’s pension for nearly thirty years after she remarried. Identified as Dakshaben Vyas, the accused is alleged to have received Rs 14.89 lakh in pension benefits by submitting false declarations and forged documents. Her husband, Kartik Vyas, had served as a constable with the Ahmedabad Police before succumbing to cancer in 1993. Following his death, Dakshaben began receiving a family pension and was also appointed as a junior clerk in the office of the Additional Director General of Police (CID Crime–Railways) under the compassionate appointment scheme.
Investigations revealed that despite remarrying after her husband’s death, Dakshaben repeatedly concealed her new marital status. Each year, she submitted self-declaration forms falsely stating that she remained unmarried, a requirement necessary for the continuation of pension benefits. The pension department, relying on these documents, continued to release payments without cross-verifying the authenticity of her claims. This pattern persisted for almost three decades, exposing major flaws in the system’s verification mechanism.
In 2020, officials from the CID Crime–Railways department discovered evidence of her remarriage, prompting an internal inquiry. The findings were immediately shared with the pension department, which then suspended her pension payments. Further investigation confirmed that Dakshaben had unlawfully received pension funds over the years by forging documents to mislead authorities. Following a detailed report submitted by the Additional Director General of Police’s office, the Pension Department in Gandhinagar formally recommended legal action. Subsequently, the Karanj Police Station registered a case against her under charges of fraud and forgery.
The case has not only initiated criminal proceedings against Dakshaben but also sparked concern over systemic lapses within the pension verification process. Officials noted that pension beneficiaries are required to provide annual certifications about their marital and employment status, yet this oversight went unnoticed for decades. Authorities are now probing whether any government officials were negligent or complicit in allowing the fraudulent claims to persist unchecked. The ongoing investigation aims to uncover the extent of the procedural failures and ensure accountability within the administrative framework that allowed the deception to continue for so long.
