The Maharashtra government has verified that over 14,000 men have falsely registered as women to claim financial help meant only for economically weak women. These fake entries were discovered under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, a scheme that gives ₹1,500 every month to eligible women.

The fraud was discovered by the Department of Information and Technology, which carried out a detailed check of the data. They found that lakhs of people who were not eligible were still getting money from the scheme.

As a result of the verification, the government has now temporarily stopped payments to 26.34 lakh people from June 2025. Many of these people were either part of multiple schemes or had more than two family members receiving money under the same program, both of which are not allowed.

Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare addressed the issue and said that her department had reached out to other state departments to double-check who really qualifies for the benefits.

“Some beneficiaries were found to be availing of multiple government schemes. In other cases, families had more than two members receiving benefits. Shockingly, there were also instances where male applicants had been granted funds under the scheme,” Tatkare said.

Authorities are now working to clean up the list and make sure that only deserving women get help from the scheme. The government is also expected to take action against those who use fake documents to cheat the system.

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