In an unusual case of fraud from Karnataka’s Yadgir district, a group of men disguised themselves in sarees and posed as women to cheat a government scheme and illegally claim benefits worth Rs 3 lakh.

Reports say these men dressed up like women, covered their heads, and took photos pretending to be female labourers. These photos were then uploaded to the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS), a digital platform used to record the attendance of workers under schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

By faking the presence of women workers, they managed to wrongly claim money meant for female beneficiaries. Authorities have now started an investigation to find out who was involved in this scam and how it went unnoticed during verification.

According to reports, the photos of men dressed as women were clicked and uploaded back in February this year.This scam didn’t just cheat the government out of Rs 3 lakh, it also robbed genuine women workers, who were in desperate need of jobs, of the opportunity to earn a livelihood. While the fake entries showed women on-site, real women were left waiting for work that never came.

As news of the scam spread, angry locals in the Yadgir district demanded strict action, not just against the impersonators but also those in charge of overseeing the scheme. In response, the local panchayat claimed that outsourced workers were responsible for the fraud and denied any involvement of senior officers.

“I have no role in this case. An outsourced employee did this, and I was unaware of the entire scam. When it came to my notice, I suspended the employee. Now, MGNREGA work is going smoothly in the village. We’ve provided jobs to around 2,500 workers,” said Chennabasava, the Panchayat Development Officer of Malhar village. The Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj said that it had already taken steps back in March to employ the MGNREGA scheme, aiming to offer 100 days of work in a year. The goal was to support rural workers and prevent migration to big cities in search of jobs.

To make work more accessible, the Yadgir Zila Panchayat claimed that “demand centres” were opened across all gram and taluk panchayats, where people in need of employment could register and get job opportunities under the scheme. These efforts, however, are now under scrutiny after the recent scam exposed gaps in monitoring and highlighted how the misuse of such schemes can deprive genuine workers, especially women of much-needed support.