A Kolkata Municipal Corporation staff member was arrested on Monday for allegedly cheating at least two women who are beneficiaries of a government scheme.

Umesh Kumar Das, an employee of the Borough V, was manipulating the bank account details of these women to fraudulently divert government aid through Lakshmir Bhandar to two mule accounts opened with their documents but allegedly without their knowledge or consent.

Police said they have arrested Umesh Kumar Das, 35, who is originally from Koderma in Jharkhand.

“We received a complaint from Bhushan Prasad Singh, 38, of Durga Charan Mitra Street who complained that his wife and sister-in-law had stopped receiving the Lakshmir Bhandar funds to their bank accounts over the past three years,” said an officer of the central division.

“The complaint mentioned that unknown persons dishonestly induced the wife and sister-in-law of the complainant to part with their documents to get money from the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme in their respective accounts. But the accused routed the money to two unknown bank accounts opened by using their documents without their consent in the area under Borough V on 22 Surya Sen Street,” said the officer.

A case was initiated by Muchipara police station.

After tracking the details of the bank accounts that were opened by the accused and based on source information, the police zeroed in on Das.

Sources said a few weeks ago a similar allegation had surfaced where a resident in the Girish Park area complained that his family members had stopped getting the government aid in their bank accounts.

“We are trying to find out if Das has associates or if he is involved in any similar cases of cheating,” said an officer of Muchipara police station.