Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance on Thursday arrested two former local officials of Panchupada Gram Panchayat under Sadar Block in Baleshwar district for allegedly misappropriating government money amounting to Rs 9,59,875.
The accused — former Panchayat Executive Officer (PEO) Sanjay Kumar Pandit, now PEO of Sadar Block, and former Sarpanch Ganesh Chandra Das — were forwarded to the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Balasore.
According to Vigilance, extensive investigation revealed systematic diversion of public resources through four major irregularities:
Suppression of Receipts: Collections raised under official GP money receipts were deliberately kept out of the GP cash book.
Diversion of Finance Commission Grants: Central Finance Commission (CFC) and State Finance Commission (SFC) funds were transferred to the GP account without authorization and written off against development works with no supporting documentation.
Unaccounted Cash Withdrawals: Direct cash withdrawals were made from the GP fund without any accounting entries.
False Payments: Monthly remuneration was falsely shown as disbursed to the Naib Sarpanch despite his prior resignation. In this connection, Balasore Vigilance PS registered a case under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(a) of PC Act, 2018 and Sections 409/477-A/120-B IPC has against the duo.
