The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the city police arrested four persons for the alleged misappropriation of pension funds of senior citizens in Tondiarpet, based on a complaint by Tondiarpet Tahsildar Subramanian. The funds were disbursed under various social security schemes and beneficiaries got ₹1,000 a month. The money is credited into their bank accounts. The State Bank of India, Royapuram, has an agreement with Zero Mass, a private firm, which has appointed 23 agents to disburse the amount to the beneficiaries.
The Tahsildar got complaints from beneficiaries, who did not receive the amount.
The CCB arrested four agents — M. Sathish, 25, his wife Mahira, 25 of Mathur, Nafeesa Banu, 32, of Washermanpet and S. Vijayalakshmi, 38, of Mathur. The accused had obtained the thumb impressions of the beneficiaries on three documents for three months. Even though the agents received ₹3,000 each, they paid the beneficiaries only ₹1,000 or ₹2,000.