Odisha: In Balasore train accident, wife came to seek compensation claiming her husband as dead, husband filed a case
Lured by the Rs 5 lakh compensation being given by the Odisha government to the families of the Balasore train accident victims, a woman allegedly declared her healthy husband ‘dead’. The matter came to light when the woman’s husband himself lodged a written complaint in this regard. Now the woman has gone into hiding fearing arrest. This strange incident has come to light from Manibandh village of Cuttack district. According to sources, Gitanjali Dutta and her husband Bijay Dutta are living separately for the last 13 years. However, Gitanjali allegedly filed false complaints against Bijay on several occasions and harassed him with the help of the police.
Meanwhile, Bijay learns that Gitanjali has gone to Balasore to fraudulently obtain the compensation amount provided by the state government for the next of kin of the deceased. He tried to make Bijay appear ‘dead’ and tried to extort compensation from the administration.
However, he had to return empty-handed due to his failure to submit the necessary documents to support his claims. After learning about her cheating strategy, Bijay lodged a written complaint against his wife. He has demanded strict action against Gitanjali as per the law. Reports suggest that several people have made futile and fraudulent attempts to claim compensation, which has alerted the Odisha government.
Strict action against fake claimants of compensation
Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena has asked Railways and Odisha Police to take strict action against such bogus claimants. Tagging Odisha’s DGP, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and Ministry of Railways, Jena tweeted that everyone should be very careful in this regard and take quick and strong action in such cases.
5 lakh ex-gratia to the dead in Odisha accident
It is noteworthy that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased, while PM Modi has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh. On the other hand, the Ministry of Railways has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of those who died in the train accident.
