Moodbidri: Misappropriating post office customers’ funds – Postman sacked

A postman, who was sacked from service, has been accused of misappropriating Rs 13.50 lakh collected from customers for savings accounts and insurance policies at Kadandale Rural Post Office.

A case of fraud was registered at Moodbidiri police station on Wednesday against Ashok, a resident of Moodbidire Ladi. It is learnt that he had been suspended and had been dismissed from his job about a year ago following an internal investigation by the postal department.

Assistant Superintendent of Bantwal Sub-Division Prahlad Nayak filed a fraud complaint against Ashok at Moodbidri Police Station on Wednesday.

According to the complaint, the alleged fraud occurred between 2010 and 2021. It is claimed that Ashok collected money from 22 postal customers for depositing in savings accounts and 4 customers for insurance policies, and recorded it in their passbooks, but did not hand the amount collected over to the department.

The collected money was meant to be deposited daily at the nearby Mittabailu sub-post office. However, Ashok reportedly omitted some customers’ funds from the department’s account, only submitting the remaining amount to Mittabailu Post Office.

The fraud came to light when Loknath was the Assistant Superintendent of the Bantwal Sub-Division. He uncovered the fraud and reported it to the Senior Postal Superintendent of Puttur Division.

The Department of Posts has refunded all of the affected customers. The department said that it has recovered Rs 8 lakhs from the accused, while another Rs 8 lakhs, including interest, remains to be retrieved.