The Enforcement Directorate Bhopal Zonal Office has provisionally attached immovable properties valued at Rs 5.37 crore in connection with an investigation into alleged fraudulent disbursement of funds under the Madhya Pradesh Marriage Assistance Scheme meant for daughters of registered poor construction workers. The attachment order was announced in a press release dated 30 October 2026.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, the investigation focuses on Shobhit Tripathi who served as Chief Executive Officer of Janpad Panchayat Sironj from 2019 until November 2021. The agency has stated that approximately Rs 30.18 crore was approved and disbursed across 5,923 suspicious marriage assistance cases during that period.
The scheme provided financial assistance of Rs 51,000 to eligible daughters of registered poor construction workers. The purpose was to help economically weaker construction worker families meet expenses related to marriage. The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that the funds were diverted through forged applications and fabricated beneficiary credentials.
The agency has described a process in which applications and credentials of ineligible beneficiaries were used. Bank accounts were opened using those credentials without the knowledge of the individuals concerned. Government money was transferred into these accounts and then withdrawn in cash in multiple instalments including through ATMs.
An earlier Enforcement Directorate press release dated 7 October 2025 had named two data entry operators Yogendra Sharma and Hemant Sahu as persons who allegedly worked with Shobhit Tripathi. The agency stated that fraudulent information was uploaded onto the government portal using forged and fabricated documents. The funds were then approved and released. After cash withdrawals the money was allegedly deposited into bank accounts belonging to Tripathi his family members and other related persons or entities.
The Enforcement Directorate further alleged that relatives bank accounts and business concerns were used to layer the funds and project them as untainted. The layered funds were said to have been used for various payments share market investments mutual fund investments and acquisition of immovable properties.
The 30 October 2026 press release specifically noted that disbursements were made to ineligible beneficiaries during the COVID 19 lockdown period when public marriages were prohibited. The agency has not given a separate figure for how many of the 5,923 cases related to the lockdown months.
The case has its roots in an earlier investigation by the Economic Offences Wing Bhopal. A Hindustan Times report published on 7 January 2022 had detailed findings of that probe. According to the report EOW Superintendent Rajesh Tiwari had stated that approximately Rs 18.52 crore was sanctioned to around 3,500 beneficiaries between April 2020 and June 2021.
The report also mentioned that money was transferred not into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries but into accounts of unrelated individuals. Assistance was reportedly sanctioned to people who did not have daughters people who had not applied for the assistance and beneficiaries whose eligibility was questionable.
The same Hindustan Times report described one example examined by the Economic Offences Wing in which three daughters of a 27 year old man were shown as having been married over a period of about 14 months with each receiving Rs 51,000. The report noted that the matter had been raised in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly by BJP legislator Umakant Sharma and that Congress leader J P Dhanopia had demanded that the investigation be extended to other districts.
The Enforcement Directorate began its own actions later. On 3 October 2025 the agency conducted searches at seven locations in Bhopal Vidisha Katni and Chhatarpur. Documents property papers and digital devices were seized. Bank accounts and mutual funds worth Rs 21.7 lakh belonging to Tripathi and others were frozen.
On 2 September 2026 the Enforcement Directorate arrested Shobhit Tripathi under Section 19 1 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He was produced before the Special Court for PMLA cases at Bhopal on 3 September 2026. The court granted Enforcement Directorate custody until 9 September 2026 for further investigation. The 30 October 2026 press release stated that Tripathi was in judicial custody at that time and that further investigation was in progress.
The provisional attachment order of 30 October 2026 covers immovable properties in the names of Shobhit Tripathi and Hemant Sahu. The Enforcement Directorate has not released the number of properties their locations addresses survey numbers dates of acquisition purchase considerations or the precise connection of each property to the alleged proceeds of crime in the press release.
The underlying criminal case registered by the Economic Offences Wing Bhopal forms the basis of the money laundering investigation. The Enforcement Directorate has referred to the following provisions in the FIR Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code dealing with cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code dealing with criminal breach of trust by a public servant Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code dealing with criminal conspiracy Section 13 1 e of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 dealing with criminal misconduct involving possession of disproportionate assets and Section 13 2 of the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with punishment for such misconduct.
If each of the 5,923 cases had received the full scheme amount of Rs 51,000 the total would have come to Rs 30.2073 crore. The Enforcement Directorate has reported the figure as approximately Rs 30.18 crore which is close to that calculation. The average disbursement per suspicious case works out to roughly Rs 50,954.
The Enforcement Directorate has described the alleged financial movement as government funds transferred through fraudulent applications into accounts opened without the knowledge of the named beneficiaries followed by cash withdrawals and subsequent deposits into accounts of Tripathi family members and related entities. From there the funds were allegedly used for investments and purchase of properties.
The provisional attachment of Rs 5.37 crore is an interim measure under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. It is not a final confiscation order. The process requires adjudication by the competent authority under the law. The Enforcement Directorate has stated that further investigation continues.
The period of the alleged irregularities coincides with Shobhit Tripathi’s tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Janpad Panchayat Sironj from 2019 to November 2021. The Economic Offences Wing investigation had already identified the same overall figures of 5,923 cases and Rs 30.18 crore as early as January 2022. The later Enforcement Directorate actions including the searches of October 2025 the arrest of September 2026 and the attachment of October 2026 form the subsequent stages of the probe into the alleged generation movement and use of the funds.
The Madhya Pradesh Marriage Assistance Scheme was intended to support daughters of registered poor construction workers with a fixed sum of Rs 51,000. The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that this welfare measure was misused through a combination of forged documents ineligible beneficiaries accounts opened without knowledge of the named individuals and rapid cash withdrawals that broke the banking trail.
The agency has named Shobhit Tripathi as the central official during whose tenure the bulk of the suspicious disbursements took place and has linked Hemant Sahu to both the data entry process and the ownership of some of the attached properties.
The 7 October 2025 press release of the Enforcement Directorate had provided the more detailed account of the alleged money trail including the role of the two data entry operators the cash withdrawals the deposits into related accounts the layering through relatives and business concerns and the eventual investments and property purchases. The 30 October 2026 press release focused on the attachment of the immovable properties and restated the overall figures of Rs 30.18 crore and 5,923 cases while confirming that Tripathi remained in judicial custody.
No information has been released by the Enforcement Directorate regarding the exact number of bank accounts involved the names of the banks the total amount that reached Tripathi’s personal accounts the total amount that reached accounts of relatives or the breakdown of investments into shares mutual funds and other instruments. The agency has also not released the list of the 5,923 purported beneficiaries the individual application dates marriage dates sanction dates or the specific properties covered by the Rs 5.37 crore attachment order.
The Hindustan Times report of January 2022 had already placed on record the Economic Offences Wing finding that a substantial portion of the money Rs 18.52 crore was sanctioned during the April 2020 to June 2021 window which overlapped with the COVID 19 restrictions. That period accounted for roughly 61 per cent of the total alleged irregular disbursement of Rs 30.18 crore. The same report had highlighted the transfer of funds to unrelated bank accounts and the sanction of assistance in cases where the applicants did not have daughters or had not applied at all.
The Enforcement Directorate searches of October 2025 covered four districts Bhopal Vidisha Katni and Chhatarpur. The agency seized documents property papers and digital devices and froze assets worth Rs 21.7 lakh. Those frozen assets and the later attached properties of Rs 5.37 crore represent separate enforcement steps. The Enforcement Directorate has not provided a combined reconciliation of all amounts frozen attached or otherwise secured.
Shobhit Tripathi was arrested on 2 September 2026 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The Special Court at Bhopal authorised Enforcement Directorate custody for a week. The latest available information from the agency as of 30 October 2026 is that he continues to be in judicial custody while investigation proceeds.
The provisional attachment order identifies the properties as standing in the names of Shobhit Tripathi and Hemant Sahu. Hemant Sahu had earlier been named by the Enforcement Directorate as one of the data entry operators who allegedly colluded in uploading fabricated information onto the government portal. Yogendra Sharma the other data entry operator named in the October 2025 release has not been mentioned in the attachment order of October 2026.
The case therefore rests on the Economic Offences Wing FIR that alleged cheating criminal breach of trust by a public servant criminal conspiracy and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and on the subsequent Enforcement Directorate investigation that is examining whether the funds so obtained constitute proceeds of crime and whether they were layered invested or converted into assets.
The Enforcement Directorate has stated that the investigation remains ongoing. The provisional attachment of immovable properties worth Rs 5.37 crore is the latest public action reported by the agency in this matter.
