Postmaster held for usurping Rs 17.22L of depositors

Berhampur: Police have arrested a branch postmaster in Kandhamal district on charges of embezzling over Rs 17.22 lakh of depositors’ money.“Girish Chandra Digal (39), the branch postmaster in Gardingia branch post office under Paburia sub post office was arrested by Tikabali police from R Udayagiri on Wednesday,” said SP (Kandhamal) Ramendra Prasad on Thursday.

He said a case was registered against Digal after a complaint filed by the inspector of post, G Udayagiri postal sub-division, against him.Preliminary probe has revealed that the accused allegedly misappropriated the deposit monies of over 100 depositors in the area over past two years, without actually depositing in the post office, he said. From verification of pass books of customers, police came to know that there were deposits in the passbooks, but these did not deposit in their accounts in the post office, he said.Police said the accused served as the branch post master in Gardingia branch post office since 2014. The transaction in the post office was conducted through a hand- device (one mobile tab), which was kept under the postmaster’s custodian.On June 15, the accused allegedly closed the branch at 2 pm and took away the device along with the transaction money without depositing it in the sub post office. The closing balance of the post office on the same day was Rs 64,154.

Next day, the closing balance of the post office rose to Rs 11,08,089 and on June 17, it was Rs 2,88,000. The closing balance on June 18 was Rs 17,22,582, police said. The postal inspector conducted an inquiry due to the abnormal closing balance in the branch post office.Verification of passbooks of customers helped detect that the deposit amounts were only printed in the passbooks but actually not deposited in the sub post office accounts.Further investigation was on to find out the exact amount misappropriated by the branch post master, said the SP.