BHOPAL: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has begun investigating the 'Covid-19 weddings scam' in which thousands of couples were allegedly married only on paper and crores of government money embezzled. TOI had reported about the scam in February this year.
It's alleged that an organised racket 'married off' tens of thousands of couples on paper during the Covid lockdown to embezzle crores from Mukhyamantri Vivah Yojana. Initially, it was believed to involve 3,500 weddings in Vidisha's Sironj but when the Economic Offences Wing began probing the allegations under Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's orders, officers realized very early that they could be looking at 50,000 paper weddings in the least. The government hands out Rs 51,000 to each couple under the scheme.
ED has now asked for details of the case from the MP EOW. EOW investigations are largely focused on the 'weddings' performed during Covid lockdown. BJP MLA Umakant Sharma had raised the issue in the assembly, pointing out that Sironj recorded 3,500 weddings on record between April and June 2020 - the first lockdown.
