Ranchi, June 11: Forge a caste certificate, get rewarded. At least that is how things seem to work in this state.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has bestowed an “advance incentive” of Rs 10 lakh to its development officer Meetu Passi who is under CBI scanner for forging a Scheduled Caste certificate to get the job two decades ago.

The payment, sources said, was made from the LIC’s Pee Pee Compound branch office a week after the Ranchi district welfare officer cancelled Passi’s certificate and informed about the action to LIC’s senior divisional manager P. Kumareshan.

The latter had apparently appointed Passi without verifying her caste certificate issued on April 4, 1989.

“Kumareshan was informed of the action against the development officer on May 24, but she received an advance incentive on June 3. Senior branch manager Shiv Chander Singh ordered the payment,” an official said, requesting anonymity.

He added that the incentive was given when a development officer brought premium more than the target set. In Passi’s case, the payment came two months before the annual assessment.

LIC branch manager Singh confirmed this and said he could not hold back incentive of any employee. “She is still our employee and there is nothing wrong in paying what we owe her,” he said, but refused to comment further.

When confronted, Kumareshan said he had forwarded “the development” in Passi’s case to his zonal manager in Patna.

The development officer could not be contacted. A colleague said she had proceeded on a month’s leave after receiving the hefty incentive in advance.

Ironically, Passi herself took the lid off her fraud way back in 1992, when she lodged a police complaint, accusing a colleague of maligning her caste.

During investigations, sources told the police that Passi was using a fake certificate and the probe was handed over to the CBI. However, confusion over castes — Pasi (not Passi) in Punjab is a Scheduled Caste — prompted the central agency to give her a clean chit in 1993.

The informant knocked on the CBI’s door again and the probe was resumed. After examining 29 witnesses at different cities and verifying 31 documents issued from several places, the CBI came to the conclusion that Passi had concealed her identity.

The agency chargesheeted (a copy of which is with The Telegraph) Passi, a general category candidate, saying she had applied for the post of apprentice development officer, which is reserved for SC/ST candidates.

“Meetu Passi obtained the said job in LIC by falsely claiming that she belongs to the Scheduled Caste while she is actually a Khatri,” the CBI report said.

The matter was communicated to the Scheduled Caste Commission, which directed Ranchi deputy commissioner to take necessary action.

On his behalf, the welfare officer, taking legal opinion from the advocate-general, cancelled Passi’s certificate.