​Clerk at large after swindling Rs 11 crore citing fake deaths in Madhya Pradesh

Seoni: Police are looking for a Seoni government staffer who reportedly forged files on fictitious dead individuals and stole over Rs 11.2 crore in compensation cheques during the Covid lockdown.

Officers identified the accused as Sachin Dahayat, 26, who worked in the accounting section of the tehsil office in Keolari town, 55 kilometres from Seoni.

According to cops, Sachin fabricated 279 deaths and transferred Rs 4 lakh in compensation to 40 accounts of his family. According to authorities, he began this 'unnatural death relief scheme' during the first Covid lockout.

According to investigators, the first fraudulent transaction against this person occurred on March 27, 2020.

In MP, the relatives of impoverished and landless people who die as a result of a lightning strike, snakebite, drowning, or other such causes are granted Rs 4 lakh in compensation.

In such circumstances, field revenue workers log unnatural deaths for compensation, which are subsequently reviewed by officials to determine whether the person and cause of death are within



the scope of the statute. If everything checks out, a compensation order is submitted to the government portal, along with the kin's information and account number.

The funds are subsequently transferred to their bank account.

The accused Sachin simply made up phoney deaths and orders in the names of fictitious people. There was no file or case created, as per officials. Sachin revealed the account numbers of his own people and obtained the money from there, said officials.

Sachin realised he couldn't keep up the act for much longer and left even before a case was filed against him, police said. The accused was nowhere to be found when the complaint was filed.

When his cabinets were searched, no files linked to the claim certificates he had submitted were discovered. Every record was examined, and it was discovered that he had carried out 279 similar transactions since March 27, 2020. To receive the money, forty account numbers were utilised, with one account being used 31 times, the tehsildar was reported saying by media. The investigation into the matter is underway.