In the latest postal fraud, deposits worth nearly Rs 75 lakh have allegedly been swindled by a postmaster of a rural post office in Kendrapara district. Department of post has instituted a probe into the alleged bungling. A FIR has been lodged in this connection. Misappropriation of depositors’ money from postal accounts has become the order of the day.
At least four incidents with postmasters fleeing with deposits have been reported in recent past across Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara district. “The latest fraud has been detected in Kanipadasablang village post office under Derabish police station jurisdiction. A departmental inquiry is going on after a section of account holders lodged allegations of deposits missing from their accounts.
Ledgers and relevant records were verified. Preliminary findings have detected primafacie of embezzlement. The postmaster Achyut Kumar Kar is accused of perpetrating the bungling”, said Bhagyadhar Das, Assistant superintendent of post, Cuttack division. Entry of deposits has not been made in ledgers while passbooks figure the deposited amounts.
There is corroborative evidence of money being swindled by the accused postmaster. However the amount may go up to Rs 70 lakh as complaints from deceived depositors are still pouring in. The accused postmaster is untraceable. He has been placed under suspension and a complaint has been lodged against him with the local police.
The department has pledged to refund the money to the depositors, he said. While deposited sum was mentioned in the passbooks, the deposit did not figure in ledger books. The amount was pocketed by the postmasters. Similar frauds were perpetrated in the past in Karilopatana village post office (Kendrapara district), Kujang sub divisional post office and Kudeswar post office (both in Jagatsinghpur district). Ironically the majority of ‘duped’ depositors are yet to be paid back their deposit sums.