GUNTUR: A village volunteer fled with pension money of Rs 45,000 and his girlfriend at Moogachintalapalem village in Bollapalli mandal in Palnadu district on Tuesday. Later, his father, an agriculture labourer, paid the money to the village secretariat after taking a loan.
M Ravi Babu (26) was a volunteer of the 17th cluster of the village. He was supposed to hand over the monthly pension money of about Rs 45,000 to as many as 15 people on Tuesday. He took the money and left the village with his girlfriend.
According to sources, Ravi was already married and has a daughter and his wife is now nine months pregnant. The parents of the girl filed a complaint with the police, who launched an investigation. After coming to know about the incident, the secretariat staff took the issue with Ravi's father, an agricultural farmer. He took a loan and paid the whole sum to the officials.
People in the village alleged that Ravi Babu was negligent in handing over the pensions in time. He used to spend the money for his own purposes and delay the delivery of pensions to the beneficiaries.
Village panchayat secretary Sreenivasulu said that Ravi's father paid all the money and the pensions are handed over to all the beneficiaries on Wednesday. Ravi is removed from the post, he said adding that necessary action will be taken against him.