Bareilly man drew dead father’s pension for 16 yrs, coughs up entire ₹75L

While Bhardwaj appeared to be about 55–60 years old, his documents showed his date of birth to be January 13, 1919, suggesting he was over 105 years old

A man was made to cough up nearly ₹75 lakh after he impersonated his dead father for 16 years to withdraw the latter’s pension in Bareilly, officials said.

(For representation)

The district administration, upon uncovering the scam earlier this year, acted swiftly and recovered the entire sum withdrawn from the government treasury without lodging an FIR or initiating court proceedings, they added.

According to officials, the accused, identified as Umesh Bhardwaj, concealed the death of his father, Sohan Lal Sharma, and continued to withdraw his pension by impersonating him. The fraud went unnoticed for years, allegedly with the connivance of certain treasury staff.

Chief treasury officer Shailesh Kumar said the matter came to light during Bhardwaj’s recent visit to the treasury office. During routine verification, officials asked him to produce his Aadhaar card, PAN card, bank passbook, and other pension-related documents.

While Bhardwaj appeared to be about 55–60 years old, his documents showed his date of birth to be January 13, 1919, suggesting he was over 105 years old. This glaring discrepancy aroused suspicion, and upon further questioning, Bhardwaj confessed that he had been posing as his deceased father to continue receiving the pension benefits.

Following the revelation, district magistrate (DM) Avinash Singh formed a special team on February 15, 2025, under the supervision of the Chief Treasury Officer. The team set an ambitious goal to recover the entire amount without engaging in legal proceedings or court trials. The administration managed to recover the full ₹75 lakh directly from Bhardwaj, the CTO said.