Married ‘marry’ again in Ballia; official, 8 more booked for fraud
It was alleged that many brides and grooms, who had already tied the knot, were married again under a mass marriage programme held at Maniyar Inter College on January 25.
An FIR has been registered against an assistant development officer of the social welfare department and eight beneficiaries on charges of fraud in the Chief Minister’s Mass Marriage Scheme in this district, police said on Wednesday.

It was alleged that many brides and grooms, who had already tied the knot, were married again under a mass marriage programme held at Maniyar Inter College on January 25, they said.
Marriage ceremonies of young men and women from poor families are held under the Chief Minister’s Mass Marriage Scheme.
Maniyar station house officer Mantosh Singh on Wednesday said an FIR was registered the previous night against assistant development officer Sunil Kumar Yadav and eight beneficiaries, namely Archana, Ranjana Yadav, Suman Chauhan, Priyanka, Sonam, Pooja, Sanju and Ramita, on district social welfare officer Deepak Srivastava’s complaint.
The FIR was registered on charges of fraud, he added.
Srivastava has said in his complaint that after a mass marriage programme was conducted under this scheme, it came to the fore that brides and grooms, who were already married were being married again.
A probe committee under the chief development officer was constituted in the matter on January 29.
It was found in the probe that Archana of Manikapur village was married in June 2023. Apart from this, Ranjana Yadav and Suman Chauhan got married in March 2023, Priyanka got married in November 2023, Pooja got married a year ago, Sanju got married three years ago and Ramita got married in July 2023. Apart from this, Sonam’s marriage was not decided yet. All of them were not eligible under the Chief Minister’s Mass Marriage Scheme, the committee said in its report.
Ineligible applicants had applied illegally to get benefits under the scheme by hiding the actual facts, the report said. The department’s assistant development officer was negligent in examining the applications that led to this fraud.
A case has been registered into the matter and further investigation was on, the SHO said.
District magistrate Ravindra Kumar said funds have not yet been distributed to the beneficiaries of the mass marriage programme held in Maniyar development block. So far, a case has been registered against the assistant development officer and eight beneficiaries found guilty in the investigation, Kumar said.
Action will be taken against anyone else found guilty, he added.
Under this scheme, a payment of ₹51,000 is made of which ₹35,000 goes to the girl, ₹10,000 for purchasing matrimonial materials and ₹6,000 for the event, according to the government website.
