How Rajasthan officer’s wife earned Rs 37 lakh ‘salary’ for jobs she never did

A senior Rajasthan government official and his wife are at the centre of a major corruption scandal, accused of orchestrating a scheme in which she drew a salary of nearly Rs 37.5 lakh from two private companies without ever having worked for them.

The alleged conspiracy unravelled following a petition in the Rajasthan High Court. It implicates Pradyuman Dixit, a joint director in the state's Department of Information Technology, who is posted at RajComp Info Services Ltd, NDTV reported.

According to an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Dixit allegedly used his official position to ensure two specific companies, OrionPro Solutions and Treegen Software Limited, were awarded government tenders. In return, he directed them to employ his wife, Poonam Dixit and provide her with a regular monthly salary.

The ACB’s preliminary inquiry, initiated on July 3 this year following a High Court order from September 6 last year, uncovered a meticulously managed fraud. As reported by NDTV, the probe found that between January 2019 and September 2020, OrionPro Solutions and Treegen Software Limited transferred a total of Rs 37,54,405 into five of Poonam Dixit’s personal bank accounts. These payments were formally recorded as ‘salary’.

However, the investigation reportedly established a startling fact: Poonam Dixit never once visited the offices of either company during the entire 21-month period. To maintain the illusion of legitimate employment, Pradyuman Dixit himself is alleged to have approved his wife’s fabricated attendance reports.

The scheme grew more audacious, as the ACB found that Poonam Dixit was simultaneously receiving salaries from both OrionPro Solutions and Treegen Software Limited.

While one company paid her a standard salary, the other reportedly masked its payments under the guise of ‘freelancing’ work, all while both firms were beneficiaries of government contracts.