A 35-year-old man and a father of three has been charged with fraud after he married a 24-year-old woman at a government wedding event in Gajraula, Uttar Pradesh, to get government benefits. The incident came to light when officials were tipped off after the event on Sunday. A case was filed against both the man, Kapil Kumar, and the woman, Priyanka Rani, on Monday.

Kapil, who lives in Salempur village, married Priyanka from Bawanpura after her family asked him to step in because the original groom didn’t show up. The marriage was planned to get ₹51,000 in financial help given to newlyweds from poor families.

After the fraud was discovered, the chief development officer (CDO) suspended the local panchayat secretary for not doing his job properly and ordered legal action against both Kumar and Priyanka. The authorities also took back the gifts given to the couple, including utensils and other household items.

Pankhuri Jain, the district social welfare officer, confirmed that the official responsible was suspended. She explained that the usual process is for the village development officer to verify the applicants before they can receive government benefits.

Jain also mentioned that Kapil Kumar admitted he knew the bride’s family and agreed to marry Priyanka after they asked him to do so to claim the benefits.

A similar fraud took place in Ballia last January, where 240 ineligible people signed up to get the benefits. The authorities formed 20 teams to investigate and went door-to-door, leading to the arrest of 15 people, including some government officials. To stop such frauds in the future, the Uttar Pradesh government decided to link the details of newlywed couples with their Aadhaar numbers.

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