The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 5.37 crore in an alleged Rs 30.18-crore scam involving fraudulent disbursal of funds under Madhya Pradesh’s Marriage Assistance Scheme, with 5,923 suspicious cases under investigation.
The ED’s Bhopal zonal office issued the attachment order on October 30 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The agency said the alleged diversion involved forged documents and fabricated applications used to secure benefits for ineligible beneficiaries.
The scheme provides Rs 51,000 to daughters of registered construction workers for marriage assistance. According to the ED, Shobhit Tripathi, who served as chief executive officer of Janpad Panchayat, Sironj, from 2019 to November 2021, allegedly colluded with others to approve and disburse government funds through 5,923 suspicious cases.
The case began with an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing in Bhopal under sections 420 and 409 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 13(1)(e) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The EOW’s investigation identified alleged irregularities in the processing and disbursal of assistance under the scheme. The ED later opened a money-laundering investigation to trace the alleged proceeds of crime.
According to the ED investigation, application forms were forged and credentials of ineligible beneficiaries were allegedly used to claim assistance. The agency said bank accounts were opened using the credentials of these beneficiaries without their knowledge and were used primarily to receive government payments.
The funds, according to the agency, were withdrawn in multiple cash instalments soon after being credited. The withdrawal pattern allegedly made it difficult to identify the eventual recipients of the money. The ED also said assistance was allegedly sanctioned to ineligible persons during the Covid-19 lockdown, when public marriages were prohibited.
The properties provisionally attached include immovable assets held in the names of Tripathi and his associate Hemant Sahu. The agency said searches conducted during the investigation had earlier resulted in the recovery of documents and other materials it described as incriminating.
Tripathi was arrested on September 2, 2026, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is currently in judicial custody. The ED said its investigation into the alleged money-laundering network and the proceeds of crime remains underway. The provisional attachment will remain part of the legal proceedings and is subject to adjudication under the relevant provisions of the law.
