Accused arrested after five months

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 13

The secretary of a Bhogpur-based cooperative society, who was involved in a scam in the society unearthed over five months ago, has been finally arrested by the police.

The scam amounting to Rs 27 lakh, of only two years i.e. 2015 and 2016, had come to the fore during the audit. But now, more layers of the scam are being uncovered as officials, who are looking into the case, have said misappropriation of nearly Rs 70 lakh was being suspected, which would be confirmed after audit.

“An inquiry is being conducted and it has been found that the accused secretary had not maintained the records properly and thus, misappropriation of Rs 67 lakh is being suspected but it will be confirmed after the audit team will complete the checking,” said one of the investigating officers.

“The amount of Rs 67 lakh is cash in hand which means that he might have not deposited the amount in the bank which he took from residents,” the officer said.

The audit team is yet to check the embezzled amount of 2016-2018 and if misappropriation is found, it might add to the amount. The complainants from Loharan and nearby villages had come to the SSP (rural) district headquarters to lodge a complaint against the accused on May 7.

As per the complainants, the account statements of the loan and other accounts were issued by the society, but amounts were never deposited and entries were not made in the account books.

The victims said they had deposited different amounts on separate occasions with the society in savings bank, loans and FDR accounts.

They alleged that the FDRs and other receipts were issued, but when some of them contacted the society, they found that the receipts were fictitious and amounts were never deposited in their bank accounts and the cooperative bank under which the society worked.

Harbhajan Singh (76), Puran Singh (85), Raghubir Singh (79), Malkiat Singh (75), Hardayal Singh (77), Darshan Singh (80), Beant Singh (87), Charanpreet Singh, Manohar Singh (76), Gurnam Singh (67) and Gurbachan Singh (88) are the main complainants in the case.

Balwinder Singh, son of Puran Singh, one of the victims, said his father was bed-ridden and his amount of Rs 6,45,000 had got embezzled.

Sukha Singh, Deputy Registrar, said the departmental action had begun.

“An arbitration case has also registered against the accused,” he said.