Summary of this article
DBT scam siphoned crores in Rajasthan.
PM-Kisan, pension schemes exploited.
52 arrested; 11,000 accounts flagged.
PM Kisan: One of the most significant frauds in welfare schemes in India has unfolded in Rajasthan. A sophisticated network in the state has systematically siphoned off funds that were meant for farmers, pensioners, and disaster-affected beneficiaries. This incident simply highlights the loopholes that were exploited from the government portals and diverted crores of money into unauthorised hands. This massive scam was uncovered through an extensive police investigation, which exposed deep vulnerabilities in the exercise of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes in schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, the state's pension programme, and the compensation for crop loss.
Local police and cybercrime investigators describe this network as the parallel “cyber sarkar”, with these agents spread across village-level operators, grassroots intermediaries like the e-mita and common service centre (CSC) facilitators and even some government officials who wield nodal access to credentials for these official portals. Over the months of investigation, the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group (SOG) has so far arrested 52 people linked to this fraud. Chargesheets against 48 key accused have also been filed, seizing of luxury vehicles, digital devices, and identification of more than 11,000 suspicious bank accounts has been done.
Exploitation Of Scheme Loopholes
The strategy of the network was simple but effective, identifying the government schemes with weaker eligibility checks and automation features, and then manipulating the beneficiary data to divert these funds. The PM Kisan scheme was the primary target, as the volume of beneficiaries is dense and the rightful checks can not be made thoroughly. Initially, the scheme also allowed easy auto-approval and lacked strict state-specific residency checks and caps on the number of beneficiaries per family. Fraudsters could’ve easily registered themselves and received bulk payouts.
Investigators found out that the gang had obtained personal data, which included Aadhaar numbers, bank account details and mobile numbers, from the villagers under various pretexts. Some participants were quite unaware of the nature of these transactions, believing that they were genuinely receiving the benefits from the government, while others were complicit. In one of the incidents, individuals received money under the PM Kisan scheme despite having no agricultural land.
In the Rajasthan Social Security Pension Scheme, similar manipulations had occurred. The fraudsters created disability certificates with fabricated medical documents so that the pension amounts were credited to the accounts they controlled. When the legitimate pension details were rejected due to incorrect account data, the controllers of the fraud intercepted and replaced the details.
The fraud had also extended to the Disaster Management Information System (DMIS), which comes into play to compensate the farmers for crop losses. By exploiting the correction procedures of the system, agents inserted fictitious entries or flipped land details into the directories they had under control. Many such payouts were triggered where crops were unaffected or where the records could be fabricated simply.
Who Was Behind It?
Police investigations revealed the traces of the operation to a core group that managed data flows and approvals at least at the district level. Those who were arrested in this scam included the e-mitra, CSC operators, nodal portal account holders, and local intermediaries. Sensitive data of nearly 99 lakh people was found on the devices that were seized, which raised grave concerns about privacy and data security.
One of the accused was an alerting individual who served as an operator in Rajasthan, who worked in the PM-Kisan nodal office and had allegedly created district-level IDs that were used by the network to approve the fraudulent applications. Another alarming figure from the cartel was a local worker who had coordinated between the agents, collected their Aadhaar information, and even ensured the funds were channelled into accounts that were linked to the accomplices and their relatives.
Police sources claim that this scam was the tip of the iceberg, larger networks that are potentially operating across the state and using the fake and cloned login credentials, hacked passwords and automated tools to bypass the authentication. Government probes have released warnings about similar instances of weak spots in the digital welfare platforms.
A coordinated probe has led to multiple arrests and the seizure of cash, vehicles, laptops, and other electronic devices. Charges have been filed under the relevant cybercrime and fraud statutes, and senior officials have maintained the possibility of more arrests and investigations as they unfold.
