Bokaro, April 8 An accountant with the Jharkhand Police is alleged to have withdrawn ₹4.29 crore from the district treasury's salary disbursement account in Bokaro, an official said on Wednesday.
The accused, Kaushal Kumar Pandey, was arrested on Tuesday following a First Information Report (FIR) lodged by treasury officer Gulab Chand Oraon at the Bokaro Steel City police station on the instructions of Deputy Commissioner Ajay Nath Jha.
Bokaro SP Harvinder Singh said that initially, the case came to light regarding the withdrawal of ₹3.15 crore from the salary head of a sub-inspector.
"I directed two police sub-divisional officers to investigate the matter. Following this, Pandey was questioned, but he denied the allegations and said that no such letter was signed and sent to the treasury," he said.
However, after an inquiry at the drawing and disbursing officer (DDO) level on the e-Kuber Bill Management System, it was found that ₹4.29 crore was fraudulently withdrawn 63 times over 25 months (November 2023 to March 2026) under the salary head in the name of Havildar Upendra Singh, who retired in July 2016, the SP said.
"Upon questioning, Pandey admitted that he had continued to withdraw the money by editing the date of birth and account number of the retired havildar in the portal. The account into which the amount was being transferred belongs to his wife, Anu Pandey," he added.
The accountant has been sent to judicial custody, and further investigation into the matter is underway, the SP said.
"Prima facie, it has been found that the withdrawal of funds under the salary head in the name of Upendra Singh does not match the normal procedure, and there is a suspicion of serious irregularities," additional collector Md. Mumtaz Ansari said.
"I have ordered officials to freeze the bank accounts into which the funds were transferred. Documents in the treasury office are being seized," Deputy Commissioner Ajay Nath Jha said.