KENDRAPARA: A lady postmaster posted in the seaside Ramnagar village within Jamboo Marine police limits was arrested on Thursday for allegedly embezzling around Rs 17 lakh from the saving accounts of depositors. She was identified as Kaveri Mallick. Police said the postmaster illegally withdrew around Rs 17 lakh from the passbooks of 143 depositors by forging their signatures. She did not show the deposited money in the postal ledgers but reflected the amount in passbooks of the depositors.
The irregularity was detected two years back when some depositors found out that had been duped by the postmaster. On December 10 2020, Kaveri was suspended by the Postal department after inquiry. She recently returned Rs 4.10 lakh of the embezzled amount but failed to pay back all the money following which assistant superintendent of Kendrapara postal sub-division Debashis Satapathy filed an FIR against her on March 10.
Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Kendrapara Rajiv Lochan Panda said basing on the FIR, the lady postmaster was arrested under sections 420, 468 and 477 (A) of the IPC. The accused was produced in court and remanded in judicial custody.
In 2018, a former postmaster of Karilopatna village the district had embezzled around Rs 40 lakh by forging signatures of depositors. Similarly, the postmaster of Kundeswar village in Jagatsinghpur’s Naugaon was arrested two years back on the charge of embezzling around Rs 16 lakh from the saving accounts of many persons.