'Dead man' gets salary for guarding BMC office

Allauddin Sheikh, a security guard with the local civic body, reports to work regularly and draws salary every month. Nothing strange, except that the 52-year-old was declared "dead" by civic authorities last year.

Allauddin Sheikh, a security guard with the local civic body, reports to work regularly and draws salary every month. Nothing strange, except that the 52-year-old was declared "dead" by civic authorities last year.

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"In May, I learnt that I had been declared dead in BMC's records on October 27, 2009," Sheikh said. Sheikh joined BMC in 1981. The error brought trouble for Sheikh, who had taken a Rs 1.25-lakh loan from Municipal Corporation Bank in 2006.

"I have been paying an installment of Rs 3,000 per month. When bank officials learnt about my 'death', they deducted the pending amount from my account without my knowledge," Sheikh said.

Joint Security Officer of BMC S V Kulkarni said, "We admit our staff committed a mistake and we are rectifying it."