Fund fraud: Police probe revolves around cashier

Thiruvananthapuram: Nemom police probing the tax fraud in zonal office is going ahead with the investigation pinning the case mainly on cashier Sunitha. The hearing of her bail plea has been postponed to October 20. The bail plea of Santhi, the charge officer who was suspended along with Sunitha, was reportedly rejected on Tuesday. Police officials hinted that they have completed the first phase of the probe and they need to arrest Sunitha to make further headway in the investigation.
The police have collected all relevant documents, including bank statements of the staff reportedly involved in handling of cash at the zonal office in the past one year. Besides, the statements of auditors were also recorded.
The police officials hinted that Sunitha who is currently in hiding is being traced and will be taken into custody for further questioning. “From the investigation so far, we are focusing our probe mainly around the cashier who was primarily in charge of all cash transactions in the main office. The manner in which forged receipts were found in the register is suspicious and hints at fraud,” police sources said.
As regarding Santhi, the police believe that it was more of supervisory lapse and she had no direct role in the fraud.
Sunitha has earlier given a complaint to the corporation secretary listing down names of all the staff who had carried money from the zonal office to the bank in the past one year. It is also learnt that, of around seven staff, two staff had mainly carried the money in 2020; the year in which a major chunk of money went missing from the corporation account. The police, however, are focusing solely on Sunitha and it is learnt that cops will turn to other staff only after her arrest.