Maharashtra: Latur police make third arrest in embezzlement of ₹23 crore from government accounts

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Latur police have arrested an accused in the alleged embezzlement of about ₹23 crore from government accounts, taking the total arrests in the case to three, an official said on May 31.

A team of policemen dressed up like doctors and arrested him last week from a hospital in Aurangabad where he had come to meet a relative, he said.

A case was registered in January on a complaint by Latur Tehsildar Mahesh Parandekar after it emerged that ₹22.87 crore had been illegally transferred out of government accounts with the help of forged signatures between 2015 and 2022.

The First Information Report (FIR) registered at Latur’s MIDC police station named Manoj Phulboyane, a clerk in collector’s office, his brother Arun, Sudhir Devkate, and Chandrakant Gogde.

While Manoj, the key accused, and Chandrakant were taken into custody in January itself, Arun was arrested on May 25. Sudhir is still absconding, he said.

Investigation officer Dilip Dolare said, “Manoj transferred ₹22.87 crore to various accounts, including the ones belonging to his brother’s firms, by forging the signatures of the tehsildar and tampering with the figures on cheques. He also withdrew ₹4.5 crore in cash.”

The official said police got inputs that Arun would be visiting a relative at a hospital in Aurangabad. A team of policemen dressed up like doctors and remained stationed there. “Once Arun was in the hospital, an officer called out his name. When he responded, he was caught by the apron-clad cops,” he said.

In his complaint, Tehsildar Parandekar said that an order was issued to distribute funds under the Government’s Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan, a water conservation project. Accordingly, two demand drafts were given to water conservation officers to disburse the amounts of ₹12,27,297 and ₹41,06,610 through RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement).

When relevant documents were submitted to the bank, it was found that the balance in the account was only ₹96,559, police had said. An audit was then conducted through which an alleged embezzlement ₹22.87 crore came to light, they said.