Govt. money transferred to personal bank accounts; 5 staff in dock

Mysore/Mysuru: A major scam has been uncovered at the Srirampura Town Panchayat, where Government money has been siphoned off and transferred to the personal bank accounts of four to five employees. The misappropriation was detected by a senior officer in charge of the Town Panchayat.

An investigation team has been constituted to probe the misuse of public funds over several months. Action will be taken once the report is submitted to the State Government. This is the first instance of public money swindling coming to light in Mysuru after many Gram Panchayats around the city were upgraded to Town Panchayats and City Municipal Councils in Nov. 2020 due to Mysuru’s growth.

According to sources, the misappropriation detected, amounting to lakhs of rupees, is just the tip of the iceberg and could potentially run into crores of rupees once a detailed examination of records and receipts is conducted.

Sources in the Deputy Commissioner’s Office and Srirampura Town Panchayat office told Star of Mysore that the scam came to light a fortnight ago during a routine inspection conducted by Project Director B. Shubha of the District Urban Development Cell (DUDC) who is in charge of all Urban Local Bodies.

Complaints of misappropriation

Based on complaints of irregularities in Khata issuance, transfers and tax collection receipts, Shubha visited the Town Panchayat Office a fortnight ago and conducted a review.

It was discovered that a female employee of the Srirampura Town Panchayat, in collusion with a bill collector, his assistant and two other employees, had misappropriated funds in over 150 cases.

Money collected in the form of taxes and receipts was transferred into their personal bank accounts instead of being deposited in the designated Town Panchayat bank account. Duplicate and unauthorised challans were created to collect money in the form of property taxes and fees for Khata issuance and transfers in over 150 files.

The DUDC Project Director then instructed Suresh, the Town Panchayat Chief Officer, to submit a report after checking the cash ledgers and receipts and matching them with the money deposited in the bank.

Investigation team constituted

Based on the Chief Officer’s report, which highlighted the misappropriation of lakhs of rupees, Officer Shubha brought the issue to the attention of Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Dr. K.V. Rajendra. An investigation team was then formed under Bannur Revenue Officer Basavaraju and Srirampura Town Panchayat First Division Assistant (FDA) Raghunandan.

According to sources, the investigation revealed that the official Bill Collector had entrusted the task of collecting Panchayat bills and taxes to his assistant because he was “busy.” When the assistant collected the bills, duplicate and unauthorised challans were issued in collusion with other officers involved in the scam.

Unauthorised challans

As per norms, a challan leaf must have three sections: one section is given to the taxpayer after the money is collected, another is retained by the bank, and the last section is retained by the Panchayat. In this case, the proper system was not followed. The collected money was deposited into the personal bank accounts of four to five employees after unauthorised challans were issued to the taxpayers.

It also has come to light that certain grants sanctioned to the Town Panchayat by the Government have also been misused and funds have been withdrawn for projects that have not been sanctioned by the Town Panchayat.

Yesterday, Revenue Officer Basavaraju and FDA Raghunandan visited the DUDC Office to submit an interim report, as they had been occupied with the vote-counting process for the Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said that the officers were directed to take another two to three days to submit a detailed report on the extent of the misappropriation, along with documentary evidence, to be sent to the Government for disciplinary action.