CUDDALORE: While a court clerk continues to be at large after he was accused of forging a judge's signature and embezzling cash meant for compensation, two men were arrested for allegedly helping him with the fraud in Cuddalore on Thursday.
Sources at the Cuddalore district crime branch said that the incident dates back to 2003 when a road accident claimed the life of a Badmanaban from Cuddalore. His wife, Gowsalya filed for compensation and the Cuddalore court ordered Rs 6,69,500 to be paid to the family.
Badmanaban's wife was paid Rs 3.69 lakh back then. Since his daughters were minors at the time, the court deposited a sum of Rs 1.5 lakh for each at the bank in Palur for them to avail later. In 2012, when the girls turned 18, they approached the court to claim the remaining amount. Due to an administrative error, however, they received Rs 5,40,540, meant for another case.
Meanwhile, the court clerk, Gunalan, got to know of this mix-up. He illicitly obtained the case-related documents from the court and forged a judge's signature to obtain a court order. He then presented this order at the bank, and got Rs 2,42,000 transferred to the account of his accomplice, Sathyamoorthy.
A decade later, the girls' lawyers found out about the pending compensation with the court through his sources and requested current Principal Sub Judge J Anvar Sathath to look into the matter earlier this year. It is then that the judge discovered the forgery and brought it to the attention of Superintendent of Police R Rajaram a few weeks back.
The district crime branch initiated an investigation and registered a case on May 25. On Thursday, they apprehended Sathyamoorthy and another accomplice Sivadas for aiding Gunalan in the fraud. Gunalan, however, has been absconding for the past one month, said police. Search is on to nab him. Following an inquiry, the police presented Sathyamoorthy and Sivadas before the court and them remanded them in the Cuddalore central prison.