Jharkhand CID arrests one more person in Hazaribag treasury 'scam'

Earlier, three persons -- Shambhu Kumar, Rajnish Singh and Dhirendra Singh -- employed in the police departments accounts branch were arrested on April 8 for allegedly embezzling Rs 15.41 crore from two bank accounts over the past eight years.

The Jharkhand Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested one more person in connection with the alleged Hazaribag treasury scam, an official said on Tuesday. With this, as many as six people have been arrested so far in connection with the case. As per the orders of the Jharkhand government, an investigation of cases related to illegal withdrawal of money from the Hazaribagh Treasury is being conducted by the CID. The department has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in this regard. ''In connection with the case, one more accused, identified as Saurav Kumar Singh (31), has been arrested on May 3,'' a CID statement said. A fixed deposit (FD) of Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 18.86 lakh have been frozen, it stated. Earlier, three persons -- Shambhu Kumar, Rajnish Singh and Dhirendra Singh -- employed in the police department's accounts branch were arrested on April 8 for allegedly embezzling Rs 15.41 crore from two bank accounts over the past eight years. Later, on April 9, two more persons, namely Kajal Kumari, wife of Shambhu Singh and Khusboo Kumari, wife of Rajnish Singh, were arrested in connection with this case. On April 30, the Jharkhand CID traced a money trail of Rs 10 crore in connection with the Bokaro treasury scam. It froze two fixed deposits (FDs) of Rs 1.8 crore and Rs 18 lakh, which were allegedly transferred to several bank accounts from the Bokaro treasury. The CID also arrested two police personnel in addition to Kaushal Kumar Pandey, an accountant with the Bokaro police department. On April 26, an FIR was also registered against a police constable for his alleged involvement in the ''embezzlement of Rs 27 lakh'' from the West Singhbhum district treasury. As the case surfaced, an investigation was initiated after lodging an FIR at Muffasil police station based on a statement by Chaibasa treasury officer Sumit Kumar Singh. During the investigation, on April 28, police arrested four persons, including prime accused Devnarayan Murmu, a constable accountant, along with his relatives Arun Kumar Mardi and Sarkar Hembrom from Potka block in neighbouring East Singhbhum district, and his friend Gorachand Mardi from Mayurbhanj district in Odisha. In the wake of reports of fraudulent withdrawals, state Finance Minister Radha Krishna Kishore ordered a comprehensive audit of all district treasuries.