The chief minister of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Kalyan Singh, has ordered an investigation into a scam in which living people are declared dead.

The government has ordered that criminal cases be registered against government officials responsible for the crime.

More than a dozen people, who have officially been declared dead, had part in a demonstration in the state capital Lucknow last month.

The protestors said thousands of people in the state have been wrongly designated as deceased by cheating relatives intent on inheriting their property.

The state government says it has found at least three such cases. The chief minister has ordered immediate suspension of officials alleged to have helped the relatives forge state revenue records.

The three cases have been reported from the districts of Kanpur City, Mau and Azamgarh. Officials said steps have been initiated to restore their property to them.

Lengthy campaign

The case of 45-year old Lal Bihari is typical of the unique brand of fraud hitting the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Revenue records showed that Mr Bihari died in 1976. He had to fight for 18 years to prove to the authorities that he was alive.

Success came in 1994 when the district magistrate ordered that the suffix "mritak" or dead put against Mr Bihari's name be deleted.

Mr Bihari said close relatives bribe revenue officials to requisition property even when the owner is not dead.

Many cases have been pending in the courts for decades. Widows are the worst sufferers of such frauds.

But in one renowned case, a police constable was fraudulently declared dead.

The constable did actually die in the middle of a prolonged campaign to prove that he was still alive.