UP PMFBY Scam: Insurance Claimed on Ineligible Land

Lucknow: A major fraud has surfaced under the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region, revealing how weak verification and monitoring allowed insurance claims to be raised on ineligible land. Investigations have found that policies were issued on barren land, government property, and even on land owned by a sitting BJP Member of Parliament, raising serious questions about accountability within the system.

The scheme, designed to protect farmers from crop losses due to natural calamities, is now under scrutiny after officials uncovered organised manipulation of land records and insurance applications across multiple districts.

Insurance claim raised on land owned by a BJP MP

One of the most striking cases has emerged from Jhansi, where a crop insurance claim of ₹1.64 lakh was raised and withdrawn on land belonging to BJP MP Anurag Sharma, without his knowledge or consent. According to official records, a resident of Naugawan village insured the land under the central scheme and successfully received the payout.

The MP has stated that he does not know the individual involved and expressed shock at the misuse of his land records, calling for a thorough investigation into how the claim was processed.

Discrepancies in land records and policy details

Investigators found that the insurance policy, issued by IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Company, covered plot number 695 and recorded its size as 2.48 hectares. However, revenue records clearly show that the land belongs to Anurag Sharma and measures only 0.1580 hectares.

Despite the mismatch, the policy was processed through a Common Service Centre. The claim amount was credited to a bank account in Jalaun district, pointing to possible manipulation at the application and verification stages.

Non-agricultural land insured across districts

As the probe widened, authorities discovered that land not legally eligible for crop insurance had also been insured. This included river land, village roads, ponds, forest land, railway property and other government-owned plots. In several cases, claims were withdrawn before the fraud was detected.

Reports have been filed by lekhpals, forest officials and revenue authorities after these irregularities came to light, indicating that the misuse was widespread rather than isolated.

Multiple policies issued on single land records

Officials confirmed that in some instances, as many as nine insurance policies were issued against a single land record. In Jhansi and Mahoba districts alone, more than 6,000 bank accounts linked to suspicious claims have been identified.

Many of these accounts had already received payouts before the scam surfaced. Following the exposure, the accounts were frozen and recovery proceedings were initiated.

Bulk applications routed through CSCs

The agriculture department revealed that nearly 20,000 insurance applications were submitted through Common Service Centres. While actual crop loss during the kharif season was assessed at around ₹150 crore, fraudulent claims began flowing even before official verification was completed.

Investigators believe that CSC operators played a key role in facilitating large-scale submission of manipulated applications, exploiting gaps between land records, insurance portals and on-ground verification.

Calls for CBI probe grow louder

Farmer leaders have alleged that similar patterns were seen in earlier crop insurance cases in the region. Demands have been raised for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, citing the scale of the fraud and the involvement of multiple districts.

They argue that only an independent agency can examine the role of insurance companies, intermediaries and officials in enabling the scam.

Administration initiates corrective measures

Following media reports, the state agriculture department and district administrations moved to contain the damage. District magistrates have been directed to re-verify crop insurance policies, with claims to be released only after physical inspection and revenue-record verification.

In Jhansi, a special committee is being formed to examine both kharif and rabi claims, similar to the investigation conducted earlier in Mahoba. Officials have stated that strict action will be taken against CSC operators, beneficiaries and government officials found complicit.

A broader lesson in financial oversight

The episode highlights how welfare schemes can be undermined when verification systems fail to keep pace with digital processes. Without real-time integration of land records, satellite data and banking systems, even well-intentioned schemes remain vulnerable to organised abuse.

From a governance perspective, independent checks and controls — such as those typically applied through auditing services in india become essential in identifying systemic gaps before they translate into large-scale public losses.

Authorities have indicated that the investigation is ongoing and further disclosures are likely as deeper layers of the network are examined.