It was a dream that was obviously too good to last. A 16-year-old girl in Ballia district received a major shock on Monday when she went to her bank and was told that she had nearly Rs 10 crore in her account. Saroj, who is illiterate, told reporters that she had an account in an Allahabad Bank branch in Bansdih town since 2018, and had never even seen so much money.

Saroj went straight to the police station and lodged a complaint. She told the police that a person named Neelesh Kumar from Kanpur Dehat had called her about two years ago and had asked her to send her Aadhaar card details and her photograph so that she could get funds under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Saroj said that she had sent the details to Kumar but never heard from him after that.