Hazaribag (Jharkhand), April 9 Three employees of the Hazaribag district treasury have been arrested for allegedly embezzling Rs 15.41 crore from two bank accounts over the past eight years, officials said on Thursday.
Hazaribag Deputy Commissioner Shashi Prakash Singh told reporters on Thursday that the arrests came after the state Finance department identified suspicious transactions through data analysis. During initial questioning, the accused reportedly admitted their involvement in the financial irregularities.
A press communique issued by the Hazaribag Deputy Commissioner said that a four-member investigation team, led by the Hazaribag Additional Collector, Santosh Kumar Singh, examined treasury records.
"It was found that temporary pay IDs were used to illegally withdraw government funds, which were then transferred to various suspect bank accounts. Following the probe, 21 suspicious accounts were frozen, securing Rs 1.6 crore in the process. A formal FIR has been registered at Lohsingna police station by the district treasury officer," the release added.
All three – Shambhu Kumar, Rajnish Singh and Dhirendra Singh – are employed in the accounts branch of the police department posted at Hazaribag.
Earlier on Tuesday, an accountant with the Jharkhand Police in Bokaro district was arrested for siphoning Rs 4.29 crore from the police salary account.
The accused, Kaushal Kumar Pandey, was arrested on Tuesday following an FIR lodged by treasury officer Gulab Chand Oraon at Bokaro Steel City police station on the instructions of Deputy Commissioner Ajay Nath Jha.
The accountant has been sent to judicial custody, and further investigation into the matter is underway, the SP said.
Opposition, BJP, on Thursday criticised the Hemant Soren-led government over the treasury scams in Bokaro and Hazaribag.
Party spokesperson Ajay Sah stated that if an impartial and thorough investigation is conducted into this entire matter, the unmasking of several influential and "white-collar" figures is inevitable.
Ajay Sah alleged that the treasury scam is, in reality, far more complex and organised than it is being portrayed.
"Kaushal Pandey, who was arrested in Bokaro, has long maintained close ties with senior police officials. This explains why he was even felicitated by a former DGP for his hard work and dedication. Given this context, it is difficult to believe that a lone account department clerk could execute 63 unauthorised withdrawals over a period of just 25 months," the BJP leader alleged.
He further added that incidents such as the manipulation of date of birth clearly demonstrate that the capability for technical tampering existed, and feared that these points toward the existence of a large-scale, organised racket.
"A scam of such magnitude would be impossible to execute without the patronage of senior police officials," he alleged.
He claimed that, based on the official figures available thus far, the magnitude of this scam has already reached approximately Rs 20 crore across just two districts.
"If a comprehensive inquiry into this matter were conducted across the entire state of Jharkhand, this scam could prove to be even larger than the Fodder Scam. We demand that either a judicial inquiry or an investigation by the CBI is done into this matter," said Sah.
Ajay Sah further stated that this is not the first instance of illegal withdrawals from the treasury. He alleged that during the tenure of the Hemant government, prior cases of illegal withdrawals had already surfaced—specifically, approximately Rs 100 crore from the Energy Department, Rs 10 crore from the Tourism Department, and Rs 23 crore from the Drinking Water Department.
