A shocking case of fraud has come to light, wherein crores of money were siphoned off using tampered and cloned versions of the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) app, which is used to track the attendance of MGNREGA workers. Former MLA Kishore Samrite has sent a complaint to Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav, Union Minister for Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Minister for Panchayat and Rural Development Prahlad Singh Patel, demanding a CBI inquiry into the matter. Following the revelation, a criminal case was registered against the Employment Assistant of Khadakpur Gram Panchayat under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act.

The MGNREGA scheme is ending on June 30. It will be replaced by the VB-G Ram Ji scheme starting July 1.

ALSO READ: Bhopal: 60-Year-Old Duped Of Rs 1.06 Crore After Fake Trading App Shows 'Heavy Profits'

What's The Story?

It is alleged that the accused created a cracked version of the NMMS app, enabling the recording of job card holders' attendance without them actually visiting the workplace without geo-tagging or verification. Payments were also released for the same. The complainant claims that a sum of up to approximately Rs 200 crore may have been siphoned off through fake attendance in the last year alone.

The incident has also raised questions regarding the security and reliability of government digital platforms. Experts believe that if the payment process can be accessed by creating a clone of a government app, it poses a serious challenge to cybersecurity.

ALSO READ: MP: 3-Year-Old Dies After Bhopal AIIMS Nurse Ignores Father's Warnings, Injects Child With Toxic Formalin

What Did An Official Say?

Deepali Rastogi, The Additional Chief Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Panchayat and Rural Development Department said, "This incident came to light in Morena. The local collector investigated the matter and has lodged an FIR. This is a Government of India portal, and the issue has been brought to their notice. The Government of India has taken action, including shutting down the cloned app. Such incidents could occur anywhere in the country. We are also having checks conducted in other districts of the state to see if any fraudulent payments are being made via cloned apps," Jagran report