Six postal employees booked for siphoning off more than Rs 22 lakh in Pune

Pune: Offences have been registered against six employees of India Post in Maharashtra’s Pune for allegedly siphoning off more than Rs 22 lakh from investments under term deposits (TD) and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna, police said on Saturday.

Three cases were registered on Friday against employees of Dunkirk Lines sub post office, Dighi Camp sub-post office, and Viman Nagar sub post office in the city, an official said. No arrests have been made in these cases so far, he said.

The fraud had occurred at Dighi Camp sub post office between July 2018 and August 2020, the official said.

At least 274 people had deposited Rs 9.62 crore in the TD scheme. However, four officials siphoned off the agent’s commission from the deposits to the tune of Rs 18 lakh and distributed it amongst themselves, he said.

Similarly, Rs 2.47 crore were collected from 59 depositors at Dunkirk Line sub-post office under TD scheme, of which Rs 4.95 lakh were siphoned off, the official said.

The third case has been registered against the deputy postmaster of Viman Nagar sub post office, who allegedly failed to keep a record of 19 people who had invested Rs 45,000 under the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna, he said.

The offences have been registered under sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 408 (criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant) among other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the official said.