Woman BDO staffer, cops held for misappropriation

In a separate incident in Tiruvannamalai district, two police sub inspectors who allegedly demanded and received a bribe to not register a case were arrested by vigilance officials at the Tiruvannamalai town police station.

In the first case in Vellore, Chandra (41), working as assistant in the BDO there, along with the office computer operator Sudhakar and the noon meal coordinator in a nearby private school, Kumaravel, had misappropriated Rs 19.02 lakh from the accounts meant for payment of noon meal employees wages in 94 schools and money meant for purchasing commodities for the noon meal scheme between 2014 and 2017, the police said.

The misappropriation was revealed following an audit of accounts, resulting in an enquiry being conducted. All three accused then accepted to the crime and promised to repay the amount by dividing Rs 19 lakh equally among the trio.

Meanwhile, Kumaravel died and Chandra and Sudhakar repaid Rs 1.41 lakh and Rs 2 lakh respectively. As both delayed repaying the remaining amount, District Collector A Shanmuga Sundaram asked the Vellore BDO to lodge a complaint with the police. Acting on it, BDO Banumathi complained to Vellore SP Pravesh Kumar. Chandra and Sudhakar absconded soon after the case was registered.

Chandra was arrested from Wallajahpet in Ranipet district where she was staying with relatives and remanded to custody in the Vellore prison, while the police are searching for Sudhakar. Investigations are on.

In the second incident of the arrest of two police officials, Krishnaveni (50) was running a small stall safeguarding devotees’ belongings near the Arunachaleswarar temple. A couple of days ago, a devotee handed over a bag with a laptop inside for safekeeping but found the electronic gadget missing when he collected the bag back after performing pooja at the temple. This led to an argument with Krishnaveni, following which the devotee lodged a complaint with the Tiruvannamalai town police.

When called by the police, Krishnaveni went to the station accompanied by her son-in-law Ashokan. Sub inspectors Elanchazhian and Anbalagan there allegedly demanded that the duo pay them Rs 25,000 to prevent a case being registered against them. Ashokan shelled out Rs 15,000 first and then complained to the vigilance police who gave him chemically treated currency to the tune of Rs 5000.

Ashokan, expressing willingness to paying the remaining amount, was then told to come to the police station. As soon as Ashokan handed over the chemically treated currency, both the sub inspectors were arrested by the vigilance officials. Investigations are under way.