Crooks pretended to be agents for Narendra Modi's Jan Dhan scheme

The crooks in the slum pockets of Nalasopara East have allegedly started pretending to be agents collecting money from people to open their bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana scheme. Many people have fallen prey to their ruse, Nalasopara police said.

The local members of the Bharatiya Janata Party learnt about the incident, and found that people had paid money to the fake agents for, allegedly, opening zero balance accounts with the State Bank of India under the scheme. More than 20 people went to Nalasopara police station and registered an official complaint.

"The scheme is totally free and no one should demand money for it. The crooks had put up a banner which advertised them as a franchise working with a micro-finance company and a savings support foundation which is tied up with SBI. But when we demanded that they show us their authority letter, they failed to do so and we complained to the police about them," said Vishal Joshi, party worker.

"I paid Rs 500 to open the account," said local resident Rajesh Pal, one of the complainants.

"We have registered a case under section 420 (cheating), 34 (common intent) of the Indian Penal Code and are investigating further," said SK Sarvode, investigation officer, Nalasopara police station.

Nalasopara police are investigating if any additional branches were opened by the conmen. At the time of writing, no arrests had been made.