Mysuru:  Following accusation of misusing Rs.9.8 lakh of the 14th Finance Scheme, a criminal case has been registered against four persons including the President of Rammanahalli Gram Panchayat (GP) at Mysuru South (Rural) Police Station.

Taluk Panchayat (TP) Executive Officer C. Lingarajaiah, in his complaint to Mysuru South (Rural) Police, has alleged that Rammanahalli GP President Rekha, previous Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) Shivakumar, proprietor of Fashion Huts at Vijayanagar in Mysuru Manju and M. Lingaraju Swamy had misused Rs.9.8 lakh.

Details: Shivakumar, who was the PDO at Rammanahalli GP, was transferred as Hairige Gram Panchayat PDO on Sept.21, 2017 and Ganesh Murthy was appointed in his place.

But on Dec.28 and 29, 2017, Rs.4.8 lakh and Rs.5 lakh were withdrawn respectively from the 14th Finance Scheme account and there are no details about the works undertaken or purchase of items for the withdrawn amount totalling Rs.9.8 lakh.

An enquiry was held in this background during which it was found that an amount of Rs.4.8 lakh was transferred to the account of Manju, proprietor of Fashion Huts in Mysuru and Rs.5 lakh transferred to the account of M. Lingaraju Swamy through cheques which bore the signatures of Rammanahalli GP President Rekha and PDO Shivakumar. When a notice was issued to Shivakumar seeking explanation, Shivakumar is said to have confessed of misusing the money and produced a bank challan where he had deposited the money to the account of GP account, which showed that he had indeed misused the money, following which TP Executive Officer C. Lingarajaiah lodged a complaint at Mysuru South (Rural) Police Station seeking action.

The Mysuru Rural Police, based on the complaint, has registered a criminal case under IPC Sections 408, 409, 420 r/w 34 and are investigating.