Cuttack: A postmaster at Jharkata branch post office in 42 Mouza area has allegedly misappropriated deposits to the tune of `1.5 crore.
More than a hundred duped depositors have lodged complaints in this regard with the Sadar police and the Crime Branch. The depositors have also decided to stage a sit-in in front of the post office January 11 seeking immediate arrest of the postmaster.
The massive misappropriation from post office deposits came to fore October 24 last year when Ratindra Jena, a depositor, found only `833 in his saving account, whereas he had deposited `1.29 lakh in several phases. Jena later came to know that deposits to the tune of `1.5 crore have been misappropriated from the branch post office.
“We have registered a case against the postmaster under Sections 420, 408, 468 and 417 of the IPC. The accused is on the run,” said Sadar police in-charge Devadatta Kar.
Police said the postmaster did not maintain any record regarding the deposits and he had withdrawn money from several accounts by forging the withdrawal forms. “Even, the postmaster had deposited `1,000 and `500 notes to some accounts soon after the demonetisation in 2016 and withdrawn new currency notes. The accused did not provide receipts against money deposits to many account holders at the post office,” Kar added, adding that efforts are on to trace him.
PNN