KENDRAPARA: Rajkanika police on Wednesday arrested the panchayat executive officer (PEO) of Akhulipada for allegedly using forged signatures to withdraw over Rs 10 lakh government money from the joint account of the sarpanch.
The accused PEO was identified as Minati Beska. Sources said that sarpanch of Akhulipada panchayat Kailash Chandra Tarei recently came to know that someone had forged his signature and withdrawn Rs 10.04 lakh government money from the joint account in SBI, Bharigada branch.
He informed the Rajkanika block development officer (BDO) who formed a four-member committee to investigate the matter. During investigation, the committee found that Minati had withdrawn the amount by forging Kailash’s signature. The PEO was directed to return the money within 15 days.
However, she failed to do so following which the BDO lodged a police complaint against her on Tuesday.
Basing on the FIR, police arrested Minati and produced her in court. She was remanded to judicial custody after her bail plea was rejected, said Rajkanika IIC Umakanta Nayak.