Forest staff gives police the slip in fraud case

TURA: A lower divisional assistant in the office of the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) in Williamnagar is absconding after a police FIR was filed against him for fraudulently withdrawing a sum of Rs 5.21 lakh by forging the signature of the DFO.
Though the money was withdrawn in December last year, it was detected only when the bank account was updated on Tuesday.
The LDA, Manovendra Sengupta, allegedly forged the signature of DFO Rupankar Marak on one of the cheques and encashed it on December 17, 2018.
“The missing amount was part of the revolving fund allotted by the 12th Finance Commission  for a hi-tech nursery in the division.
When we did an update of the account we found Rs 5.21 lakh missing and later found the cheque deposited in the bank bore my forged signature,” informed Marak.
When confronted by the DFO about the forgery and fraudulent withdrawal of government funds, the LDA, who is due to retire in January next year, reportedly confessed to his crime.
However, by the time a police team armed with the FIR went to arrest him, Sengupta had already fled.